Tempe is 42.3% owner-occupied, the lowest of the large Valley cities, and a good number of those owners let a room to help with the mortgage. That arrangement changes the policy more than people expect.
A paying lodger in your own home is not covered by the ordinary assumption of a single household.
Three things about sharing the house you own.
A homeowners form is written around the people who live there as a household. Taking rent from someone who is not part of it introduces a commercial element, and carriers treat that differently: some accommodate it with an endorsement, some limit how many lodgers, some decline. Doing it quietly is the version that fails at a claim.
Your policy covers your personal property. A lodger’s possessions are theirs, and they need their own renters policy. Owners frequently assume a shared roof means shared cover, and it does not.
A paying occupant and their visitors create exposure on your property that an ordinary household does not. Where money changes hands, the liability analysis changes with it, and the limit set for a family is rarely the right one.
Who lives there, and on what terms.
The single question that decides which form fits.
They should, and you can require it.
More people, more visitors, same default limit.
Tell us how many people live there and whether any of them pay rent.
We write the policy for the household that is actually in the house.
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