Noun
in·sur·a·ble in·ter·est | in-ˈshu̇r-ə-bəl ˈin-t(ə-)rəst
Definition: A financial stake in an object of insurance, such that loss or damage to the object would have a financial impact.
Kelsey couldn’t take out an insurance policy on her friend’s car because she had no insurable interest in it.
When you have an insurable interest in something, it means you own it (or at least part of it). It means you would suffer a monetary loss if that something were damaged, lost or destroyed. It means you’re somehow benefiting from that something’s existence or you’d be harmed by its loss.
When it comes to home insurance, the main objects of insurable interest are the building and the contents. Put another way: the house and the stuff inside it. The person or people who own the home have an insurable interest in those objects.
Insurable interest is vital in the world of insurance. By law, you can’t take out an insurance policy on property if you don’t have an insurable interest in it. You can’t buy a home insurance policy for your neighbour’s house, for example.
Such an arrangement would create what’s known as a moral hazard. If you were allowed to insure your neighbour’s house, you’d have a strong incentive to destroy your neighbour’s house. Your illegal insurance policy would pay you to rebuild the house even though you didn’t own it or have any financial stake in it. That’s why insurable interest is a fundamental part of insurance.
The simplest way to think of it is that the owner of property has insurable interest in it.
But what about property with multiple owners?
They share insurable interest in the property in proportion to their ownership. If two people each own 50% of a house, they each have an insurable interest in 50% of that house.
Insurable interest is slightly more complicated than just ownership, however. If you are a homeowner with a mortgage, you’re sharing insurable interest with your mortgage lender:
Example
Stacey bought a new house in 2015. The total cost was $300,000, of which she paid $75,000 as a down payment. That means at the time of purchase she had $75,000 of insurable interest in the home. Her mortgage lender, meanwhile, had $225,000 of insurable interest.
Five years later, Stacey has paid off $75,000 of her mortgage. Now, she has $150,000 of insurable interest in her home, while her mortgage lender’s interest has been reduced $150,000.
Mortgage lenders don’t literally own a share of the home, but they do have a financial interest in it. If the homeowner can’t make their mortgage payments, only then can the mortgage lender take ownership and sell the home to get their money back.
Thus, they’d be in a pickle if the house were to burn down: they’d have no way of collecting if the homeowner stopped paying and there was no house to sell.
For that reason, homeowners always have to list their mortgage lender on their home insurance policy. That way, the lender has some protection for their investment.
It works the same way for condo owners, except a condo owner has an insurable interest only in their share of the condo building: their unit. If they have a mortgage, their lender shares in that interest.
The condo corporation has insurable interest in the common parts of the building, and other owners have insurable interest in their own units.
Insurable interest doesn’t just exist for homeowners, though; renters have insurable interest in their property too.
The difference is that renters don’t have an insurable interest in their home itself. The building they live in belongs to their landlord, so they don’t suffer any financial loss if it gets damaged. There’s one exception though: if a renter’s apartment were destroyed, they’d have some extra costs for temporary accommodation while their apartment got repaired (or while they searched for a new home). These extra living costs can be covered by a renters insurance policy. But, that doesn’t represent an insurable interest in the apartment.
Instead, renters only have an insurable interest in the contents of their rented home: their furniture and clothes and electronics, and so on. Accordingly, renters insurance policies don’t include coverage for the building; the landlord needs their own home insurance policy for that.
Looking for another insurance definition? Look it up in The Insurance Glossary, home to dozens of easy-to-follow definitions for the most common insurance terms. Or, get an online quote in under 5 minutes and find out how affordable personalized home insurance can be.
About the expert: Stefan Tirschler
Stefan is responsible for underwriting leadership, market expansion, and product research and development for Square One's operations. Stefan has earned his Fellow Chartered Insurance Professional designation, and maintains a level 2 general insurance license in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario. Stefan is also an Education Committee member and CIP/GIE instructor for the Insurance Institute of Canada.
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