Whether you suddenly needed to relocate for work or could not sell your home, you might have made the decision to rent it out. Renting out a house is the best way to make money off the house if you are not going to be living there, but when you do this, it is very important to notify your homeowner's insurance company to let them know. Your homeowner's insurance needs will change when you go from living in the house you own to renting it out, and here are a few things to know about this.

Your policy will have to change

The main thing you should realize is that your homeowner's insurance policy will need to change if you rent out the house you were living in. It will change from a dwelling policy, which means that you are the owner and that you live in the house, to a rental house policy. A rental house policy is the type of policy that covers a house that is lived in by tenants. While the two policies are similar, there are also differences with them.

The changes are necessary to cover new risks

If you are wondering why the policy must change for this event, you should know that it is primarily because there are new risks involved. Therefore, the changes you must make with your policy are designed to cover these new risks. When tenants live in a house, there are more risks, and this is primarily because a tenant does not own the house and probably will not care for it as well as the owner would.

The changes you must make are also designed to offer coverage only for the structure of the house, instead of for the structure and contents. When you rent out your house, you still own it, which means you still need insurance to cover the house itself. The difference, though, is that you do not have to provide insurance coverage for the contents of the house. Your tenant would have to purchase insurance coverage for this.

The effects this may have on the premiums

Finally, you are probably wondering if this change will affect your premiums. The answer is yes; the changes will most likely affect your premiums. You should expect to pay around 25% more for the insurance on your house when you switch to a rental house policy.

If you are planning on renting out your house, make sure you call an insurance agent to get the right coverage for your house. If you do not do this and something happens to the house, it might not be covered.