Home insurance can mean different things depending on whether you own a house, a condo, or are renting, but in every case, your coverage is defined by your specific policy, including:

• The type of policy
• The limits in the policy
• Your deductible
• Any exclusions or add-ons

Here's what coverage typically looks like: 

• Home insurance: If you own a house, home insurance provides coverage for damage to the building itself (and often, other structures on your property, such as a garage or a shed), contents of your home, and personal liability.
• Condo insurance: Insurance for condo owners that covers your contents, personal liability, loss assessment, and the parts of the condo unit you're responsible for (this usually includes any improvements made to the inside of the unit). The building itself and common areas are covered by the condo corporation's insurance.
• Tenant insurance: Tenant insurance is insurance for renters that provides personal liability and contents coverage.

Most policies also include coverage for additional living expenses, which can help cover extra costs, like temporary accommodation and higher day-to-day expenses, when your home can't be lived in because of damage from an event your policy covers, like a fire.

And if you want more than the coverages provided in your insurer's standard policy, you can usually add optional coverages and endorsements to extend or increase your coverage for specific risks (for example, water-related damage coverage add-ons).

2. How much does home insurance cost in Canada?

Home insurance costs can vary widely because insurers estimate claims risk by assessing many different factors about the home being insured. These factors can include:

• Location
• Type of home
• Age of home
• Materials used in construction
• Proximity to fire station/fire hydrant
• Certain upgrades or home improvements
• Finished vs unfinished basement

Policy-specific details, such as type of coverage selected, deductibles, optional add-ons, and any eligible discounts or preferred rates (for example, preferred rates for employer groups and professional associations or for alumni), will also affect the cost of premiums. Learn more about how home insurance premiums are calculated. 

Getting a personal quote is the fastest, easiest, and most accurate way to find out what home insurance will cost for you. Plus, you can do it online and it only takes a few minutes.

3. What's the practical difference between sewer backup coverage and overland water coverage, and when would I need each type?

The practical difference between them comes down to where the water comes from and how it gets inside your home:  

• Sewer backup coverage covers you for water that comes into your home from a sewer or drain system (for example, when a floor drain, toilet, or sink backs up).
• Overland water coverage helps protect against water that comes in at ground level through doors, window wells, cracks, and other openings from an outside freshwater source, like heavy rains or a nearby creek that overflows.

Here's a good rule of thumb: look at the water's entry route into your home. If the water is "from below" via a connected drain, you're in sewer backup territory. Water flowing in from your yard, driveway, or a nearby creek or stream points to an overland water situation. 

Because it's not uncommon for both risks to arise at the same time during events like an intense rainstorm, which can drive water toward your foundation while also overwhelming the local sewer system, it's often a good idea to have both coverages in place. With TD Insurance's Extended Water Damage Coverage add-on ^‡, for example, you'd have both sewer backup coverage and overland water coverage.  

^‡All add-on coverages are subject to eligibility and have a separate premium.

4. Am I covered for damage caused by a major weather event?

In many cases, yes, but your coverage depends on whether your policy covers the specific cause of the damage, and not on the extreme weather event itself. So if an intense rainstorm damages your home, your insurer will look to the actual cause of damage to determine coverage, rather than the storm as a whole. For example, storm winds that tear off shingles and water from heavy rains that enters your basement are two different causes of damage that trigger two different coverage situations, even though both the wind and the heavy rains result from the same rainstorm.

As a practical guide, sudden and accidental storm damage to a building's "envelope" (for example, roof, siding, or windows) that doesn't involve water often falls within the scope of standard home policies. 

But it's coverage for water damage that can be the most confusing for homeowners. You may describe the damage from a heavy rainstorm as "my basement flooded", but from an insurance perspective this can mean very different things, depending on what happened. For example:

• Did rainwater enter through a window well? 
• Did pooled rainwater push in through the foundation?
• Did the storm overwhelm the sewer system, forcing sewage back into your home through a basement floor drain?

Insurers typically separate each of these into different coverage categories based on the source and entry route into the home. So, that flood in your basement caused by the storm? The resulting loss can fall under different coverage rules depending on what actually happened.

5. Does home insurance include additional living expenses (hotel/rent/food), and what limits apply?

Yes, most standard home policies include additional living expenses to help cover the costs of staying somewhere else when a covered loss (like a fire) makes your home temporarily unliveable. But be sure to confirm the terms of your coverage with your insurer, as limits and conditions can vary a lot by insurer and by policy type. 

What it usually pays for:

• Temporary housing (hotel/rent): Coverage is typically for reasonable or comparable accommodations.
• Food: If you can't use your kitchen, many policies will reimburse you for the extra cost of meals (that is, the added cost when compared to your usual grocery and dining out bill).
• Other necessary costs: Depending on your policy and situation, this might include costs for things like laundry, parking, or pet boarding.

Limits include a maximum dollar amount, with reimbursement for costs above what you'd normally spend if you were living in your home—so make sure to keep receipts and make reasonable choices (comparable accommodation, for example, and not an upgrade).

6. Will making a home insurance claim affect my premium at renewal, and how long can that impact last?

Yes, making a claim can (and often does) affect your premium at renewal—but that doesn't mean a premium increase is automatic in every case. 

Here's why a claim can impact your premium: Your claims history is one of the factors insurers take into account when calculating your premium at renewal—and when a new claim is added to this history, it provides information that can affect the assessment of that risk.  

The impact isn't permanent, though: A claim could impact premiums from 5 to 7 years, depending on the timeframe covered by the claims history reviewed by the insurer when pricing renewals. Plus, you can expect the impact to fade with time. But if your claim resulted in the loss of a claims-free discount, you'll need to wait until you can re-qualify for the discount under your insurer's eligibility rules.

If you're a TD Insurance home insurance customer and you're concerned about the impact a claim could have on your premium, contact us to see if you're eligible for adding our Claim Forgiveness coverage to your policy. With Claim Forgiveness coverage, your premium won't be affected by your first claim.

7. Is home insurance mandatory in Canada, or is it only required by lenders/condo rules/leases?

In most of Canada, home insurance isn't mandatory in the same way car insurance is, although there can be exceptions (such as in Quebec, where condo owners are required by law to have at least third party liability insurance). 

In practice, the "must have" part for many Canadians usually comes from contracts that make insurance a condition of the agreement:

• Mortgage lenders: If you have a mortgage, it's normal for the lender to require you to have insurance and to name them in the policy so they're protected if your home is damaged. And if you change your insurer, don't forget to notify your lender and provide them with your updated policy details.
• Condo corporations: While a condo corporation itself must have insurance for the building and the common elements, condo bylaws or declarations can still impose rules that affect the type of coverage condo owners or residents must have.
• Landlords: Many landlords include a requirement for the  tenant to have tenant insurance as a condition in the lease. Depending on the wording of the lease, proof of coverage may also be required.

But even if you weren't required to have home insurance, it's usually the most practical way to protect against losses that can be hard to deal with out of pocket. A single event, like a fire, major water damage, or a liability claim if someone is injured while in your home, can turn into a bill that far exceeds your available savings—which is why coverage still makes sense even without a mortgage condition, condo rule, or lease term requiring you to be insured.