Tenant insurance is a type of insurance policy that provides coverage for renters' personal belongings, liability for damages or injuries, and additional living expenses if the rental unit becomes uninhabitable.
It's similar to home insurance but only covers you (the renter) and your belongings, not the property itself. Many landlords will require tenant insurance as part of your lease.
Key Takeaways
- Sonnet Insurance offers the best bang-for-your-buck tenant insurance, with competitive pricing and lots of customizable policy options.
- Many factors affect the cost of tenant insurance, but the national average is between $20 and $50 per month.
- Tenant insurance is not mandatory in Canada, but many landlords insist on it as part of rental agreements.
Best cheap tenant insurance companies in Canada
So, what options do you have for renters’ insurance in Canada? We sourced example quotes using the same fictional situation from eight top tenant insurance providers.
| Company | Quote (per month) |
|---|---|
| Sonnet | $37.33 |
| Square One | $42.79 |
| Cooperators | $49.77 |
| TD | $57.75 |
| RBC | $80.37 |
| Scotiabank | $71.83 |
| Desjardins | $70.75 |
Please note: These quotes were accessed on April 9, 2025 and are based on a two-bedroom apartment in Toronto, ON, for a renter with no prior claims and a high credit score. The price is for illustrative purposes only and will likely be different depending on your personal situation.
How we picked the best tenant insurance
To evaluate tenant insurance, we analyze 10+ data points to generate a trustworthy Genius Rating. We consider all aspects of a tenant insurance policy, including the premium, overall coverage, sewer and overland water coverage, customer satisfaction, and unit improvements, to assess its overall value. Then, the tenant insurance policy’s features are rated based on how they stack up against other available options.
Best tenant insurance 2025 winner – Sonnet Tenant Insurance
Personal Liability
Personal Belongings
Additional Living Expenses
Unit Improvements
Since your landlord insurance doesn't cover any tenant belongings, tenant insurance is required in order to keep your rental safe, including everything inside of it. Sonnet Tenant Insurance is a well-rounded and reasonably priced insurance product from an online-only company, offering tenants peace of mind.
Pros
Cons
Provinces
AB, ON, QC, NB, NS, PE
Eligibility
- Canadian citizen
- Age of majority
Why You Want It
Get an easy online quote for cheap insurance premiums + Multiple ways to save.
Special Features
See Issuer for Details
Personal Liability
Personal Belongings
Additional Living Expenses
Unit Improvements
Identity Theft
Sewer Backup
Overland Water
- Quote we received: $37.33 per month
Our pick for the best tenant insurance of 2025 is Sonnet Tenant Insurance. Not only does it have the cheapest quote we received, but it also has all of the basic coverages you’d need, along with a few optional coverages for that extra customization.
While it’s online-only (which may turn some people off), it's currently the cheapest option on the market. Plus, there are a few incentives to help lower your premium costs, like being claims-free for the last five years.
Their quote process was quick and easy, delivering a quote in just a few minutes, with easily modifiable optional coverages. You could also easily change your coverage amount.
We were particularly impressed by the fact that Sonnet is one of only two tenant insurance options we checked out that offer full identity theft coverage. They'll cover your legal fees, any professionals or services you have to pay for in the process, and any wages you lose out on while trying to take care of the issue.
And this is included with each tenant insurance policy – up to $10,000 of coverage.
Sonnet Pet Insurance and Sonnet Car Insurance are also available. Both are highly rated, making it easy and inexpensive to bundle all of your insurance with one company.
Square One Tenant Insurance
Quote we received: $42.79
Square One Tenant Insurance provides a reasonable quote and an excellent user experience.
Before providing the quote itself, Square One offered a visually pleasing list of several optional coverages, including:
- Bicycles, Sporting Equipment and Watercraft Coverage
- Fine Arts and Collectibles Coverage
- Additional Living Expenses Coverage
- Identity Theft and Financial Loss Coverage
Once we finished the application, we got a helpful policy summary. Most users will appreciate this kind of transparency during an application process.
While Square One offers convenient service and quality, inexpensive products, it's unfortunate that it only serves a handful of provinces.
Cooperators Tenant Insurance
Quote we received: $49.77
While Cooperators did offer a comparable quote, the application process required a few details we didn't see elsewhere, like whether the building has automatic sprinklers installed.
On the positive side, the final summary was quite comprehensive and provided easy means to customize the quote before buying. It also offered the widest range of deductible choices that we encountered.
TD Tenant Insurance
- Quote we received: $57.75
If you trust the big banks more than independent online companies, TD provides a solid tenant insurance product at a comparable rate. Plus, the rate we were offered included a 10% discount for purchasing the policy online.
After creating a quote for our test location, TD provided a thorough overview of included coverages alongside a detailed list of optional coverages. It would be pretty easy to add on any such coverages with just a few clicks.
RBC Tenant Insurance
Personal Liability
Personal Belongings
Additional Living Expenses
Unit Improvements
RBC is a trusted name in Canada, making it an easy choice when it comes to tenant insurance. RBC Tenant Insurance offers a lot for renter insurance, covering personal belongings, liability coverage, as well as some nice benefits such as covering living expenses and property inside your vehicle.
Pros
- Convenience and reliability
- Extra features
Cons
- High costs
- Need to pay extra for additional coverage
- No coverage for identity theft
Provinces
ALL
Eligibility
- Canadian citizen
- Age of majority
Why You Want It
Choose from comprehensive coverage options + Trusted, reputable bank.
Special Features
- Non-owned property
- Personal property at other location
- Property in your vehicle
- Voluntary medical payments
- Voluntary property damage
- Special item limits
- Extensions of coverage
Personal Liability
Personal Belongings
Additional Living Expenses
Unit Improvements
Identity Theft
Sewer Backup
Overland Water
- Quote we received: $80.37 per month
As another big bank product, it's no surprise that RBC's tenant insurance quote isn't quite as low as its online-only competitors. In fact, this was the highest quote we received.
But it's still comprehensive coverage, and the quote process was easy to follow.
Once the quote is generated, you can modify it right on the page. Once you make an edit, you can click on the "Update my price" button and see your premiums change in real time.
Similar to TD, RBC offers a 5% discount if you purchase your tenant insurance online. However, it also charges 3% for installment fees if you choose to pay monthly rather than annually.
Scotiabank Tenant Insurance
Personal Liability
Personal Belongings
Additional Living Expenses
Unit Improvements
Yes, Scotiabank tenant insurance can provide the feeling of being taken care of by a large, powerful company. It comes with several perks, especially if you're already a Scotiabank client. And really, the convenience of getting multiple services from one provider is hard to beat.
Pros
- Convenience of a big bank
- Emergency living expenses
- No credit check required
Cons
- Limited information online
- Lack of online quote
Provinces
ALL
Eligibility
- Canadian citizen
- Age of majority
Why You Want It
Easy to set up if you’re a Scotiabank customer + 24/7 claims service.
Special Features
See Issuer for Details
Personal Liability
Personal Belongings
Additional Living Expenses
Unit Improvements
Identity Theft
Sewer Backup
Overland Water
- Quote we received: $71.83 per month
Scotiabank is another big bank offering tenant insurance. It also offers life insurance, travel insurance, and health insurance, so if you're looking to bundle your policies, this is an attractive option.
While on the high end for pricing, Scotiabank delivers what seems to be a solid product with reasonable customization options. Add-ons include enhanced water damage and S.O.S Identity to protect against identity theft.
This quote is good for 60 days, which is both impressive and very convenient. Our quote included a web discount, although it's unclear how much the discount was.
Desjardins Tenant Insurance
- Quote we received: $70.75 per month
A well-recognized name in the financial and insurance industries, Desjardins is a good choice for tenant insurance, though premiums may be slightly higher than competitors.
Desjardins offers a handy breakdown of how your quote is assembled, broken into liability, property, and water damage categories. All three show what's included in your quote and what's extra, and this section is fully customizable – you can update your quote in seconds.
What is tenant insurance?
Tenant insurance covers you and your belongings when you're renting your home, versus typical home insurance used by those who own their homes.
Though many insurers classify tenant insurance under home insurance, tenant insurance doesn't include coverage for the actual building you live in. This is likely covered by your landlord's insurance.
Because of this, renters' insurance tends to be less expensive than home insurance.
Who should get tenant insurance?
Take a second to think about the total value of your possessions in the main room of your house. Would you be able to afford to replace all the important items if they were to disappear?
If the answer is no, then tenant insurance may be a good idea for you. It'll cover possessions from theft and damage, plus provide some helpful extras like personal liability insurance.
That said, you have to make sure you can afford the monthly fee. This is usually around $20 - $50 a month, which works out to about $240 to $1,000 a year.
Why are so many people passing on tenant insurance?
A surprising number of renters skip tenant insurance, often underestimating the financial risks involved. Some assume their landlord’s insurance will cover them, while others believe their belongings aren’t worth enough to insure.
According to a study mentioned by the Toronto Star, these are the main reasons why Canadians don't have tenant insurance:
- They don't have much to insure
- They believe insurance is too expensive
- They believe they're already covered through their landlord's insurance
- They think their roommate has an insurance policy
- They simply haven't thought of it
But not having tenant insurance leaves renters more vulnerable than they realize. Assuming that you're covered by your landlord's insurance can be an expensive mistake.
Landlord insurance covers the building itself, including the windows, pipes, floors, etc. It protects against property damage, liability, and lost rental income. It does not include coverage for any tenants' belongings or offer liability protection for tenants.
What does tenant insurance cover?
There are three standard things that tenant insurance covers: content, living expenses. And personal liability. There are also a handful of extra coverages that many policies offer, usually as add-ons.
Content coverage
Content coverage is the portion of your coverage that protects your personal belongings, like furniture, books, electronics, clothes, etc.
This coverage often applies to things that happen outside of your apartment, so if your possessions are stolen when you're travelling, that may be covered by your tenant insurance.
If you want to fully cover some expensive items (like jewellery, high-end electronics, and valuable collectibles), you’ll probably require additional protection that you can specify when creating your quote. This may increase your premium.
Living expenses
This portion of your insurance coverage can help you out if you ever need to find accommodation outside of your home due to things like flooding or a fire.
It'll also cover related expenses, such as transportation and meals.
Personal liability
The third standard feature of tenant insurance is personal liability, which covers you in the event of a lawsuit brought against you for accidental damage or injury in your unit or rental home.
A common example is someone tripping while in your residence and suing you for injury and lost wages.
It could also come into play in situations where you accidentally flood your bathtub and cause damage to your neighbours’ property downstairs.
Common additional coverages
When customizing your policy, many extras will be available to add to your coverage. These will likely increase your premiums but may be worth it to you. Here are the most common examples we've come across:
| Coverage type | Coverage details |
|---|---|
| Sewer backup | Covers damage caused by clogged or overflowing pipes |
| Overland water | Covers loss or damage caused by water from heavy rains, spring run-off, or overflow from a nearby body of water (lake, river, etc.) |
| Full hail | Covers loss or damage to items left outside the building (patio furniture, etc.) |
| Earthquake | Protects personal property damaged during earthquakes |
| Identity Theft | Provides funds required to fix your credit score, reverse fraud, and any reimbursement needed. |
| Additional protection for valuable items | Replaces expensive items like jewellery, antiques, artwork, etc., that are lost or severely damaged. |
What isn't covered by renters' insurance
The first thing to note is that the building you rent in has its own insurance – it is not covered by tenant insurance.
Also, certain high-value items will have limits with tenant insurance. For example, if you own something that's worth $20,000, your insurance may only cover $5,000 worth.
If you have high-value items, look into buying additional coverage for valuable items.
Certain natural disasters also may not be covered by your insurance, either by default or at all.
Lastly, normal wear and tear on your items isn't typically covered by insurance. The coverage is meant for disasters, burglary, or similar events, not common occurrences.
How much is tenant insurance?
Based on the quotes we received, our average price was $58.66 per month for an apartment in Toronto, Ontario. Keep in mind that we were given a significant range of prices, from as low as $37.33 to as high as $80.37 per month.
Other sites claim a nationwide average of $20 - $50, so a rental unit in Toronto (surprisingly) mostly fits in this range.
A lot of things go into determining your personal rate, which is why you'll be asked a bunch of questions when you go to get your tenant insurance quote. Here are some of the main things they take into consideration.
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Property type | The larger the space, the higher the cost. Basement apartments are also more at risk for flooding, so may be a bit more expensive. |
| Your belongings | You can often indicate how much coverage you need for your belongings. The higher you set this estimate, the higher your premiums will be. |
| Your address | You'll often be asked where your apartment is located, which helps determine risk of break-ins based on your area’s crime rate. Your rates may also go up if you live near a body of water, since you're more at risk of flooding. Another thing they often ask is how close you are to a fire hydrant and a fire station. |
| Your liability limit | This is another option you can specify during the application process, but setting your liability limit higher than $1 million (the standard) will mean you’ll pay higher premiums (but will be covered for more expensive lawsuits). |
| Your claims history | If you've made any claims in the past five years, this may indicate to the insurer that you’re an increased risk, and your premium may be higher as a result. |
| The building | If you’re living in a newer building with low-risk heating appliances, you may get cheaper premiums. |
How to get a tenant insurance quote
Most insurance companies provide an online quote system, making it a quick, easy, and convenient process.
Simply visit the company's website and click the "Get a quote" button. You'll then be asked a few relevant questions:
- Your name, phone number, and email address
- Your new address
- When you want the policy to start
Some companies will automatically get the information they need based on your answers, but others will ask you even more questions:
- Age of your building
- Type of heating
- Distance to the nearest fire hydrant or fire station
Most companies will then allow you to customize the quote they generate. The quote will change in real time based on any adjustments you make.
Once you're satisfied, you can either purchase your insurance online or over the phone. The company will often email you a code so you can retrieve your quote at a later date if you don't want to commit right away.
How to get cheap tenant insurance
Here are a few tips for saving on tenant insurance in Canada:
1. Increase your deductible
Your deductible is what you pay out of pocket before your insurance company steps in and covers the rest. The higher the deductible, the lower your premiums, since it means they have to pay less if you do make a claim.
Say you made a claim for $500 and you have a $200 deductible, you'd pay $200 and your insurance would cover the remaining $300.
So while it's a good idea to increase your deductible to save money on premiums, make sure you can afford the deductible if you ever make a claim.
2. Pay annually instead of monthly
Some companies offer discounts for paying your premiums in an annual lump sum instead of monthly.
Just make sure not to forget about the payment when you’re making your budget, since annual payments can be easily missed this way.
3. Only get the coverage you need
Review your tenant insurance policy and make sure it only includes what you want coverage for.
Shaving off even just a few unnecessary extras can save you quite a bit on your insurance premiums.
If you can live without identity theft coverage, for example, feel free to exclude that when creating your quote.
4. Get a policy bundle
If you bundle your tenant insurance with your car insurance, you can save big on both policies. In some cases, you may even pay less for the two coverages than for just one.
This also simplifies the process, since you don't have to make payments to multiple companies.
5. Compare all quotes in your area
Doing your research is one of the best ways to save money on renter's insurance. It only takes a few minutes to get a quote, so check out a handful of companies to get a feel for what a good price could be.
You can also use this as a bargaining tool if you call an insurer company and mention a cheaper price offered by their competitor.
6. Verify your research when your policy is up for renewal
Insurance companies often increase premiums after the first year, which can lead to unexpected costs.
If your situation changes – maybe you've upgraded your heating system or bought a new home theatre system – you may want to boost your coverage.
Either way, knowing what's out there can be a big help to making sure you have the coverage you need at a price that's still comfortable for you.
7. Consent to a credit check
Some tenant insurance companies don't allow you to get a quote if they can’t check your credit score, but others leave it as an option.
On one of the optional forms, we looked at what the difference would be if we didn't let them check our score, and it turns out it was nearly a $50/month difference.
When they do this, it’s a soft credit check, so it doesn’t affect your credit score. But if you have a good credit score, this could really help you save money.
Editorial Disclaimer: The content here reflects the author's opinion alone, and is not endorsed or sponsored by a bank, credit card issuer, rewards program or other entity. For complete and updated product information please visit the product issuer's website.
FAQ
What is tenant insurance?
Tenant insurance (also known as renter's insurance) is like home insurance, but it’s for people who rent rather than own their homes. Your belongings aren't covered by your landlord’s insurance, which is where tenant insurance comes in.
What is the best tenant insurance in Canada?
The best is Sonnet Tenant Insurance, thanks to its excellent base coverage and very reasonable pricing. All policies include full identity theft coverage, plus there's a long list of valuable add-on coverages to choose from.
How much is tenant insurance?
According to multiple sources, tenant insurance generally ranges from $20 to $50 a month on average in Canada. We received seven different quotes from various companies, ranging from about $37 to $80, with an average of $58.66 per month.
How do I get a tenant insurance quote?
To get a quote, you'll first need to choose an insurance company. Head to its website and click the "Get a quote" button. You'll be prompted to answer a few relevant questions, and a quote will be generated for you.
Is tenant insurance mandatory?
Tenant insurance isn't mandatory, but it's highly recommended. Plus, some landlords require it as part of your rental agreement. This means that if you sign the contract and don't end up getting tenant insurance, you may be evicted.
How can I get cheap tenant insurance?
You can save on your tenant insurance premiums by increasing your deductible, making an annual instead of monthly payment, cutting down on coverage you don't need, bundling your policy, comparing quotes, and consenting to a credit check.
Is TD tenant insurance good?
In our review, TD tenant insurance offers standard coverage within an average price point. If you'd rather a lower monthly premium, independent insurance companies are often a bit cheaper – Sonnet Tenant Insurance and Square One Tenant Insurance are good examples
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