Landlord insurance covers most of what can go wrong on a rental property, but several common risks are excluded by default. The most consistently excluded categories are flood, earthquake, intentional tenant damage, normal wear and tear, vacant property after a set window, tenant belongings, business income from short-term rentals, sewer backup, mold beyond limited triggers, pest infestations, certain dog breeds, and acts of war or nuclear events. Each gap has a workaround, usually through a rider, endorsement, or separate policy.
The 12 common landlord insurance exclusions
Flood damage
Standard landlord insurance excludes flood damage from rising water. That includes overland flooding, storm surge, and any body of water overflowing onto the property. The exclusion applies regardless of how the property is rented or where it sits. Insurers price flood risk separately because it concentrates geographically and historically blows up loss ratios when it hits.
The fix is a separate flood policy through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) or a private flood carrier. NFIP caps building coverage at $250,000 and contents at $100,000; private flood writes higher limits for properties that need them. If your property sits in a FEMA-designated Special Flood Hazard Area, your mortgage lender almost certainly requires this coverage already. Flood coverage for rental properties has its own decision tree around deductibles, contents limits, and the 30-day NFIP waiting period.
Earthquake damage
Earthquake is excluded for the same reasons as flood: concentrated geographic risk, catastrophic potential, premium that doesn't make sense as a baseline coverage. The exclusion applies broadly, including earth movement caused by mining or fracking activity in some states.
The workaround is an earthquake rider added to your landlord policy or a standalone earthquake policy through a specialty carrier or state-run program (the California Earthquake Authority is the largest example). Premium varies sharply by zone. California and the Pacific Northwest run substantially higher than midwestern or eastern states. Deductibles are typically structured as percentages of the dwelling limit (10% to 25% is common) rather than flat dollar amounts.
Intentional damage by tenants
Most landlord policies cover accidental damage caused by tenants but exclude intentional or malicious damage. The line gets fuzzy in practice. A grease fire from a forgotten pan is accidental. A tenant punching holes through drywall on the way out is intentional. Carriers handle the gray zone differently, especially when the damage borders on vandalism.
The good news is that vandalism and burglary coverage is included as standard on most landlord policies and can cover deliberate destruction depending on how the carrier defines the act. The other route is pursuing the tenant directly through small claims court or the security deposit. The first steps after rental property vandalism affect both the claim timeline and the payout, since carriers expect specific documentation within the first 24 to 48 hours.
Normal wear and tear
Wear and tear isn't really an exclusion; t's outside the design of insurance entirely. Wear and tear is the gradual decline of materials over time: faded paint, worn carpet, scuffed floors, aging fixtures. None of it is sudden and accidental, which is what insurance covers. Treating wear and tear as a claim would turn every landlord policy into a maintenance subscription, and the math doesn't support it.
The workaround is the landlord's regular maintenance budget, plus the security deposit for end-of-tenancy issues that exceed normal use. The line between wear and tear on rental properties and tenant damage is one of the most common disputes in landlord-tenant relationships, with state-by-state variation in how it gets handled.
Vacant property beyond the policy window
Most landlord policies allow a property to sit vacant for a defined period, typically 30 or 60 days, before coverage starts to limit or void. The reasoning is that vacant properties have a different risk profile than occupied ones: more break-ins, more undetected leaks, more fire risk from things like wiring failures that no one notices for weeks.
The workaround is a vacant home policy or vacancy permit endorsement. These are written for properties between tenants, undergoing renovation, or held vacant for any reason longer than the base policy allows. Premium is typically higher than a standard landlord policy because the risk genuinely is higher. If a flip or major rehab project will keep the property empty for 90+ days, this is the conversation to have before the gap opens.
Tenant belongings
Landlord insurance covers the structure plus any property the landlord owns and keeps on site (appliances, lawn equipment, tools). It does not cover anything the tenant owns. Furniture, electronics, clothing, jewelry, the tenant's car parked outside, none of it.
The fix is for tenants to carry their own renters insurance. Many landlords now require it as a lease condition. Renters policies cover a tenant's belongings, their personal liability, and additional living expenses if a fire or covered loss displaces them. Premiums typically run $15 to $25 per month, well below what most tenants assume. Requiring renters insurance also reduces post-loss disputes. The tenant has a path to replace their stuff that doesn't run through the landlord.
Business income from short-term rentals
Standard landlord insurance is built for long-term residential leases. The moment a property starts running short-term rentals (Airbnb, VRBO, weekly rentals), most carriers consider it a commercial use the policy wasn't priced for. A claim filed during STR activity can be denied, or the policy can be voided retroactively.
The workaround is a short-term rental endorsement on your existing landlord policy, or a specialty STR policy. The endorsement covers the property under STR-appropriate terms, including the higher claim frequency and broader liability exposure that STR properties produce. Hosts on Airbnb typically carry Airbnb-specific landlord insurance rather than a standard landlord policy, since carriers underwrite short-term rental risk separately. Loss of rent coverage for STR scenarios is calculated differently than long-term, with rental income defined by weekly or nightly bookings rather than monthly contracts.
Sewer backup
Sewer backup happens when a municipal sewer line backs up into a property, pushing wastewater up through floor drains, toilets, or basement fixtures. Standard landlord policies exclude this on the assumption it's the city's problem (or a maintenance issue), even though the resulting damage looks identical to a covered water damage claim.
The workaround is an optional sewer backup endorsement, usually inexpensive ($50 to $150 per year) and well worth carrying for any property with finished basement space, ground-level fixtures, or a history of municipal sewer issues in the area. Limits typically run $5,000 to $25,000 depending on the carrier. Properties without basements and on newer city infrastructure may not need it; older properties in older cities almost always should.
Mold
Mold coverage is one of the most heavily limited categories in landlord insurance. Most policies cover mold remediation only when it results from a covered water claim such as a burst pipe or sudden leak. Even then, the cap is often set at $5,000 to $10,000. Mold from gradual leaks, humidity issues, or maintenance failures is typically excluded entirely.
The workaround is an enhanced mold rider that raises the cap and broadens the triggers, available from many landlord carriers as an add-on. Cost varies but typically runs $50 to $200 per year. The bigger workaround is preventive: moisture management and maintenance, especially in basements and bathrooms. Mold remediation timelines and landlord responsibility vary by jurisdiction and by lease language.
Pest infestations
Standard landlord policies don't cover damage caused by pests, including termites, rodents, bed bugs, carpenter ants, raccoons, or anything else that gets in and damages the structure. The exclusion applies because pest damage is treated as preventable through maintenance.
There isn't a great workaround inside the insurance market. Pest infestations are typically handled through extermination contracts and ongoing maintenance rather than insurance. Some specialty carriers offer rodent or termite damage endorsements in specific markets, but coverage is narrow and triggers are tight. The practical answer is regular inspections and a relationship with a local pest control company, plus clear lease language. Landlord responsibility for pest control varies state by state.
Specific dog breeds and animal liability
Many landlord liability policies exclude or limit coverage for injuries caused by specific dog breeds, regardless of who owns the dog. Common excluded breeds include pit bulls, Rottweilers, Doberman Pinschers, Wolf hybrids, and Akitas, though the list varies by carrier. The exclusion applies even when the dog belongs to the tenant, since premises liability can pull the landlord into a claim.
The workaround is an animal liability rider, sometimes called a pet liability endorsement. This adds back coverage for excluded breeds, typically with its own sub-limit ($25,000 to $100,000 is common). Some carriers won't write the rider at all for certain breeds, in which case an umbrella policy or specialty animal liability carrier becomes the only path. Dog bite coverage for landlords comes into play more often than most landlords expect, particularly when a tenant's lease grandfathered in a pet the carrier later flagged as restricted.
Acts of war and nuclear events
This is a standard exclusion across virtually every property insurance policy in the U.S. Damage from declared or undeclared acts of war, military action, insurrection, and nuclear events (fallout, contamination, reactor accidents) is excluded. The exclusion is universal because the exposure is too large and too correlated for any insurer to underwrite at the residential property level.
There isn't a meaningful workaround in the standard insurance market. Specialty terrorism coverage exists for commercial properties but is rarely relevant for residential rentals. Practically, this exclusion is one most landlords never think about and never need to.
What to add to fill the gaps
Most of these exclusions have a clear path back to coverage through riders, endorsements, or separate policies. The right combination depends on your property type, location, and how it's rented. Standard coverage on a landlord policy includes the major perils not on this exclusion list (fire, water, wind, vandalism, liability, loss of rent), and a properly structured combination of Steadily's landlord coverages closes most of the remaining gaps for the average rental.
What landlord insurance covers tends to be more consistent across carriers than what gets excluded, even when the specific exclusion lists vary heavily by carrier and state. For most landlords, the right combination of riders and endorsements closes the gaps without dramatically changing the policy structure or premium. The fastest way to see what's standard, what's optional, and what your specific property needs is to walk through a quote with a Steadily agent.