Wondering what type of tenant insurance is appropriate if you’re renting in Scarborough? It could include protection against groundwater entering your home if you’re renting a basement, for instance. If you’re renting in a tower, you may want to know if temporary housing costs are covered if the building is uninhabitable, or whether or not your storage locker is covered.
Scarborough made the list of the top 10 most expensive rental markets in Canada as of June 2023. Expensive rent means a hot market. Many people choose to rent to maintain flexibility, or because the price tag associated with home-ownership is out of reach. You’ll be competing with others to find a rental in Scarborough, so get ahead of the game by educating yourself on tenant insurance. Your landlord may have insurance on the building, but your belongings aren’t covered by their policy. Nor is your liability. Tenant insurance can help you out financially if something happens to your things, as long as the cause is a peril that’s covered by your policy.
Scarborough renters live in houses, towers, condos and basement units. There are many choices. But when requesting a tenant insurance quote, be specific about your type of dwelling, the type of unit, and which floor you live on. You won’t get good comparisons between policies if you’re being vague. Compare tenant insurance rates in Scarborough by area, unit size, and age of dwelling.
Scarborough Tenant Insurance Premium Snapshot
Before labelling tenant insurance quotes as expensive, confirm that quotes relate to the same type of property, such as a tower, condo, house, or basement suite, and have comparable contents and water limits.
At $356, Scarborough’s median annual tenant premium is among the higher city results in the dataset.
| Median annual tenant insurance premium | $356 |
| Median monthly tenant insurance premium | $30 |
| Scarborough premium vs. Ontario benchmark | 9.2% above the Ontario benchmark |
| Lowest-premium postal code area | M1N ($324) |
| Highest-premium postal code area | M1K ($391) |
Tenant Insurance Costs Across Scarborough Postal Code Areas
Rates range from $324 in Scarborough’s M1N postal codes to $391 in the M1K codes, a difference of $67. Be sure to quote addresses and keep the type of unit and coverage consistent when making geographical comparisons, as it’s easy to confuse differences in rental arrangements for differences in location.
| Postal Code Area | Median Annual Tenant Insurance Premium |
|---|---|
| M1N | $324 |
| M1L | $328 |
| M1S | $335 |
| M1R | $349 |
| M1H | $357 |
| M1B | $358 |
| M1W | $361 |
| M1E | $362 |
| M1J | $366 |
| M1K | $391 |
A Guide to Tenant Insurance Coverage in Scarborough
Contents coverage accounts for 76.4% of the standard premium, while personal liability accounts for 10.1% in Scarborough.
Make sure that the condo insurance policy names your unit, explains below-grade water coverage and tells you what happens to personal property stored in a locker or other storage area.
| Coverage Component | What It Generally Covers | Median Annual Tenant Insurance Premium Allocation |
|---|---|---|
| Contents / Personal Property | Coverage for loss of or damage to tenant’s personal effects by reason of an insured cause of loss, subject to policy limits, deductibles and terms of loss settlement basis. | $272 |
| Personal Liability and Voluntary Medical | Coverage for liability for claims for property damage or bodily injury relating to the tenant. Limited voluntary medical payments as specified. | $36 |
| Additional Living Expenses | Additional living expense where authorized by the policy, when it is necessary for the insured to be temporarily displaced from the rental dwelling as a result of a covered loss. | $15 |
| Optional Water and Other Endorsements | Many carriers offer other special coverage available by endorsement (add-ons) including identity theft, sewer backup, groundwater, overland water, etc. | $33 |
| Coverage Total | $356 |
Tenant Insurance Costs Across Different Unit Sizes in Scarborough
Also keep in mind any high-value belongings or property you keep in a locker. Those should be added when determining your contents limit.
Accurate square footage is important since our internal data shows that the cost of insuring a unit less than 500 sq. ft. is $281 annually, whereas a unit of 1,600 sq. ft. or more costs $465 annually.
| Rental Unit Size | Median Annual Tenant Insurance Premium |
|---|---|
| Under 500 sq. ft. | $281 |
| 500–799 sq. ft. | $320 |
| 800–1,199 sq. ft. | $356 |
| 1,200–1,599 sq. ft. | $404 |
| 1,600+ sq. ft. | $465 |
Tenant Insurance Costs for Older and Newer Buildings in Scarborough
Renters living in towers should try to determine the year of construction and type of building. Renters living in older houses should supply any information they have on renovations.
At our standard tenant profile, a building in Scarborough built before 1940 would pay $433 a year for tenant insurance. By contrast, a building in Scarborough completed in 2020 or later pays $342 a year.
| Building Construction Period | Median Annual Tenant Insurance Premium |
|---|---|
| Before 1940 | $433 |
| 1940–1959 | $409 |
| 1960–1979 | $384 |
| 1980–1999 | $368 |
| 2000–2009 | $356 |
| 2010–2019 | $349 |
| 2020 or newer | $342 |
Additional Coverages Selected in Scarborough Tenant Quotes
Those relatively low water-option selections do not show that a basement has little exposure, so ask whether the endorsements are available and useful at the address. Identity-theft protection appears in 38.5% of Scarborough tenant quotes, while the groundwater and above-ground-water options each appear in about 9.5%.
| Selected Coverage | Share of Scarborough Quotes |
|---|---|
| Identity theft | 38.5% |
| Ground water | 9.4% |
| Above-groundwater | 9.5% |
What Is Not Included in a Typical Scarborough Tenant Insurance Policy?
Exclusions should be read in light of the particular Scarborough unit. A tower resident may care about locker and off-premises limits, whereas someone in a basement suite should look more closely at groundwater, sewer backup and repeated seepage.
Some examples of places to check:
Confirm roommates, the building type and the location of stored belongings. The landlord’s or condominium corporation’s insurance is not a substitute for the tenant’s contents and liability coverage.
How Can You Find Cheaper Tenant Insurance in Scarborough?
Scarborough’s higher median makes an accurate comparison worthwhile. Quote the exact unit, then hold the contents, liability and water limits constant while testing insurers, bundling and deductibles. Use the Ontario tenant insurance guide to check provincewide coverage considerations before buying.