Tennessee rental property owners & investors
Landlord insurance built for a portfolio, not one house
Most landlord policies are sold one door at a time. Investors don't own one door. Once you hold three, ten or thirty rentals, the questions that matter are about the whole book: who the named insured is, whether the limits match, and what happens when a unit sits empty.
We place rental property coverage anywhere in Tennessee, from a single house in Murfreesboro to a portfolio across Davidson and Williamson counties, and we shop it across multiple carriers.
Send us what you have nowOr call (615) 378-7187. Franklin office, serving all of Tennessee.
The most common mistake
The policy has to match the deed
Most Tennessee investors hold rentals in one or more LLCs. Most of the policies we read are still written in the owner's personal name, often because the house was bought personally and moved into the LLC later, and nobody told the insurer.
That matters at claim time. The named insured should be the entity that actually owns the property. If the deed says the LLC and the policy says you, there is a real question about who suffered the loss. When properties move between entities, the policy has to move with them.
Check the declarations page of every rental against its deed. It is the cheapest fix in this whole business, and the one most often skipped.
A homeowners policy on a rental
A homeowners form is written for the people who live in the house. Once a tenant lives there and you don't, that is a different risk, usually written on a dwelling or landlord form.
If a rental is still on the policy you had when you lived there, it deserves a look before the next claim, not after it. The same goes for a house you moved out of and kept.
What a landlord program should answer
Six things to check across your rentals
Read these against the declarations pages you have now. Each one is where a rental claim most often goes differently than the owner expected.
Named insured and additional insureds
The LLC that holds title as the named insured, with members, a property manager and the lender added where they need to be. One structure, kept current as properties change hands.
One schedule or a stack of policies
Several rentals can often be written on one policy with a schedule of locations, so you have one renewal date and one set of terms instead of a different answer on every house.
Lost rent
If a fire or storm takes a unit off the market for months, the rent stops but the mortgage doesn't. Check whether each policy covers loss of rents, and for how long.
Wind and hail deductible, in dollars
Middle Tennessee hail and wind seasons hit whole neighborhoods at once. A percentage deductible on a $400,000 rental is real money. Know the dollar figure on every property.
Liability, and an umbrella sized to the book
A tenant's guest falls on the stairs. Liability limits that were fine for one house can be thin for a portfolio, and an umbrella policy that covers every rental belongs in the conversation.
Empty between tenants
Many property policies limit or drop coverage once a building has been vacant for a set period, often 60 days. A turnover that runs long, or a rehab between leases, can quietly cross that line.
Questions
What Tennessee owners ask
Do I need landlord insurance on a Tennessee rental?
If there is a mortgage on it, your lender requires property coverage and will tell you the minimums. Even without one, a rental is a business asset with a business liability attached. The real question is not whether to insure it but whether the policy on it is written for a rental at all.
Can one policy cover all of my rental properties?
Often, yes. Portfolios are frequently written on a schedule: one policy with each location listed. That usually means one renewal date and consistent terms across the book. Whether it suits you depends on how the properties are titled and how many entities hold them.
My rentals are in LLCs. How should they be insured?
The named insured should match the owner on the deed, which for most investors is the LLC. Members, managers and lenders are added as needed. If you hold properties in several LLCs, that structure needs to show up on the policies too. How you title property is a question for your attorney; making the insurance match it is ours.
Does my homeowners policy cover a house I rent out?
Usually not as written. A homeowners form assumes you live there. Renting the whole house to a tenant is a different use, normally written on a dwelling or landlord policy. Tell the insurer when the use changes, and have the policy rewritten to match.
Does landlord insurance cover damage a tenant causes?
It depends on the form and the cause. Sudden damage from a covered peril is one thing; wear and tear, neglect or a tenant's own belongings are another. Ask your tenants to carry renters insurance in the lease. It covers their belongings and their liability, which your policy does not.
Does Tennessee's landlord-tenant law apply to my rental?
It depends on the county. Under Tenn. Code Ann. 66-28-102, the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act applies only in counties with more than 75,000 people in the 2010 census, which includes Davidson and Williamson. Your lease and your duties as a landlord follow from it, so ask your attorney which rules apply to each property.
What do you need from me to review my rentals?
The declarations page for each property, the address and who holds title, the year built and roof age where you know them, and whether any unit is empty or being renovated. A spreadsheet of the portfolio is perfect.
Also for Tennessee owners and investors: short-term rental insurance in Nashville, apartment building insurance (5+ units), vacant building insurance, small business insurance in Franklin, and Sullivan James Tennessee.
Start here
Send us the declarations pages
One rental or the whole portfolio. Upload a declarations page, or send the list of addresses and we will take it from there.
A licensed Tennessee agent reads it and shops it across multiple carriers. No obligation to switch, and nothing changes on your current policy unless you ask.
Sullivan James Tennessee · 230 Franklin Rd, Building 2B, Franklin, TN 37064 · by appointment
(615) 378-7187 · tn@sullivanjames.com
General information, not legal or tax advice, and it creates no agent-client relationship. Whether and on what terms a carrier will offer coverage depends on its own underwriting, and policy wording varies by company. The landlord-tenant county threshold is Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-102(a), checked October 31, 2026. Sullivan James is an independent insurance agency licensed for property and casualty insurance, not an insurance company; for questions about how property is titled or held, talk to your attorney.