There is no law requiring it. In practice it is unavoidable: mortgage lenders require proof of coverage as a condition of financing and will place their own policy on the property, at your expense, if yours lapses. Even mortgage-free, going without means carrying the full rebuild cost and an unlimited liability exposure yourself.

Enough to rebuild the house as it stands today, which is a different number from what you paid for it and different again from what it would sell for. The insurer produces a replacement cost estimate from the construction details; your job is to make sure those details are right and that renovations have been reported. On contents, most people are underinsured because they have never added up what a whole household actually costs to replace.

Not on its own. Sudden water escape from indoor plumbing is included on a comprehensive form, but water arriving from outside needs endorsements — sewer backup for water coming back up through drains, and overland water for rain, spring melt and overflowing rivers and lakes. Coastal flooding and storm surge are generally excluded from both. Availability of overland water depends on the property’s flood score, and a small number of high-risk addresses still cannot buy it.

Replacement cost pays to rebuild or replace with like kind and quality without deducting for depreciation. Actual cash value deducts it, so a fifteen-year-old roof or a ten-year-old sofa settles for a fraction of what it costs to replace. Replacement cost is conditional: on the building it generally requires you to rebuild on the same site, and on contents it usually requires you to actually replace the item within a set period.

Only up to the policy’s special limits, which typically cap jewellery, watches, furs, fine art, collectibles and bicycles at a few thousand dollars each. In most Canadian wordings those caps apply to theft rather than to a fire. Anything worth more than the cap should be scheduled individually, usually with an appraisal — see our jewellery, art and collectible insurance page.

Its age, whether it is indoor or outdoor, single or double wall, the material, the serial number, and usually photographs of the tank and the line entering the house. Age limits are set by each insurer rather than by the province, and outdoor steel tanks are given considerably less life than indoor or double-wall fibreglass ones. If you are buying a house with an older tank, confirm insurability before your financing condition comes off.

Options narrow sharply. Most standard markets decline active knob-and-tube outright and expect at least a 100-amp service. Some will consider a home where the old wiring is limited in extent and certified by a licensed electrician. It is a solvable problem, but it needs to be solved before closing rather than discovered afterwards.

Not by default. Business property in the home is capped at a low sub-limit and business liability is excluded, so a home office, a trade run from the garage or an in-home clinic needs an endorsement or a commercial policy. Short-term rental use changes the occupancy and generally needs to be disclosed and endorsed — renting out a room or the whole house without telling your insurer risks the claim.

Coverage narrows once a home is vacant beyond roughly thirty consecutive days, and water damage typically falls away entirely. Extended travel, a property between owners and a house emptied for renovation all need to be disclosed — a vacancy permit or a renovation policy is usually the answer. Tell us before the work starts.

Bundle home and auto, raise the standard deductible to a level you could comfortably absorb, install a monitored alarm and a flow-based water shut-off device, ask whether a group program applies to you, and stay claims-free by handling small losses yourself. What we would not do is cut the sum insured or drop water endorsements — that is not saving money, it is deferring a much larger bill.

Call the office or send us the property details and your current policy. We market the risk across the insurers we hold contracts with, come back with the options side by side rather than a single quote, and tell you plainly where the differences in wording matter. If a group program applies to you, we will find it.