Insurance for tenant damage

Our Experts Answer:

Under the Residential Tenancies Act there is provision for a tenant to be held accountable for damage caused by their own careless acts. This involves the landlord making a statement in the tenancy agreement regarding their insurance cover as it applies to tenants’ careless damage.  Then any damage that the tenant causes carelessly will be recovered from the tenant up to the lesser of the owner’s insurance excess or four weeks’ rent.  If the owner isn’t insured for gradual damage such as you describe, you can expect that the tenant will be responsible up to the limit of four weeks’ rent.