Renters Insurance Transition Resources

Buildium is releasing a new and improved renters insurance solution, Renters Insurance, powered by MSI. As a current user of Assurant’s Renters Insurance Plus product, you will be granted early access to this new experience, which will take policy management off your plate so you can simplify your leasing process, save time, and make renters insurance easy and accessible for your residents. 

We want to make this transition as smooth as possible, so we have provided more details about the upcoming change, as well as frequently asked questions and a guide to help your residents switch to Renters Insurance, powered by MSI. What’s Changing? Why are you changing providers? Renters Insurance powered by MSI How to get started How to tell your residents Lease addendum FAQs

What’s changing for renters insurance?

In order to provide a best-in-class renters insurance solution we’ve partnered with the property management industry’s leading renters insurance provider, MSI. As part of this change, on August 22nd* all active Assurant policies will expire. Starting July 24th, you will no longer be able to issue new policies through Assurant. Any new policies that were opened through Assurant before July 24th, will also expire at that time.

*Policies held by residents in Mississippi and Nevada will expire on August 27th 2019. Policies held by residents in Virginia, Washington will expire on September 11th 2019.

New Coverage:

In order to ensure your residents continue to be covered, you will need to direct those policy holders, and all new renters moving in, to your resident site in order to purchase a new policy through our new partner. The new renters insurance is now available for residents to purchase on so they can make sure they have ongoing coverage before their Assurant policy expires. 

Residents can choose the start date for their new policy with MSI, so they purchase a new policy and have it start the same day their existing Assurant policy expires, on August 22nd. This will ensure they have smooth transition with no gaps in coverage.

Please note: Coverage is available nationwide, in the United States only.

Reporting:

As of July 24th you will no longer see Assurant policies on the lease summary page. However, you can pull a report of all your tenants who have an active policy to see who still has an active Assurant policy and will need to get new coverage. Go to reports > “Renters Insurance Plus compliance” and you can export a report for all of your properties that lists insurance by tenant. (Note: once policies have expired this information will no longer be available so we recommend doing this before August 22nd)

Cancelations: 

If a fixed lease ends in Buildium between July 24th and August 22nd, we will cancel those policies completely on your behalf when the lease ends. However, if you move new tenants in, or only move some tenants out, the policy effective dates and insured parties will not change, and these policies will be canceled outright on August 22nd.

Billing: 

As you are charged for each Assurant policy two months in arrears, you will be billed for June and July policies in September and October respectively. Your final bill will be for a pro-rated amount for services rendered in August (August 1st – August 22nd). This prorated amount will be charged to you in November, and will be your final bill for all Assurant policies. 

Note: As part of the change, Buildium has become the licensed insurance agent for this program and we are no longer able to allow non-licensed people to charge an additional fee for policies. This is due to insurance legal and regulatory compliance restrictions. We’re confident that the decrease in administrative work and time required with our new solution will make up for the lack of a service fee.

Learn more:

Watch the webinar for more information and details about the transition to MSI as well as a live demo.

Why we are changing providers:

Customer have shared a number of pain points with our current solution through Assurant and we felt there was a big opportunity to provide a more comprehensive insurance solution that puts lets strain on our customers. Some pain points included a limitation where you can only sign up a tenant at the point of lease, the property manager having to pay for policies and then collect the fees from residents, and the accounting process being overly complex.

With our new Renters Insurance, powered by MSI residents have the ability to purchase insurance right through the resident site. No more having to chase payments and take on the administrative costs of tracking policies.

MSI is one of the property management industry’s leading insurance providers underwritten by two A-rated carriers and representing 10 million units nationwide. We’ve partnered with MSI to bring you a more comprehensive renters insurance solution that will take policy management off your plate so you can simplify your leasing process, save time, and make renters insurance easy and accessible for your residents. With this new offering, residents have the ability to purchase insurance policies right through Buildium’s newly redesigned resident site.

Improvements for Property Managers:

• Ability to require residents to enter their policy information for policies not purchased through your resident site and we’ll now keep a record of that for you too.
• Property managers will automatically be listed as an interested party, guaranteeing that they will be notified when residents make changes to their policy or cancel coverage
• As a Buildium customer, all of your residents are pre-approved for policies
• No more having to chase payments and take on the administrative costs of tracking policies – billing is directly between the resident and our partner

Improvements for residents:

• Buildium’s partnership with MSI means residents are pre-approved and can sign up in minutes
• Residents will have the ability to choose from multiple coverage options, while the previous renters insurance coverage was one-size-fits-all
• Residents can add their insurance provider in the resident site if they choose not to purchase renters insurance through Buildium, giving you accurate reporting without having to collect this information
• Access to a dedicated renters insurance support line

How to get started with Renters Insurance, powered by MSI

You don’t have to do anything to start using Renters Insurance, powered by MSI. The new renters insurance will be available for residents to purchase on July 24th. At that time, residents will be able to log in to the resident site and purchase a new policy or enter their policy information from an alternate provider. Policy information will be synced to your Buildium account in real time and can be viewed on the lease summary page. The only thing you need to do is make sure your residents have access to the resident site. You will want to make sure that all residents who have Assurant policies that are expiring on August 22nd are informed and able to access the resident site to purchase a new policy before that date.  

Renters Insurance Lease Addendum