An HO-3 covers a house the owner lives in. When you move out and a tenant moves in, tell the insurer before the move and switch to a landlord policy, often a DP-3, covering the building, landlord liability, and lost rent if you add it. The tenant insures the tenant's belongings on a renters policy.
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Do I have to change my homeowners policy when I move out and rent the house?
Yes. Tell the insurer before the tenant takes the keys. An HO-3 is written for a house the owner lives in. Once a tenant moves in, the occupancy the policy was priced for has changed, and the building belongs on a landlord dwelling policy. A DP-3 is the common form for that switch. It covers the building, the landlord's liability, and lost rent after a covered loss when you choose that coverage. The tenant's furniture, clothes, and electronics stay on the tenant's renters policy.
Why can't I keep the HO-3 after I move out?
The Insurance Information Institute's homeowners basics describe an HO-3 as the policy for people who own the home they live in, covering the structure, belongings, and personal liability. That description is the owner-occupant contract. Keeping it in force after you have moved out leaves the insurer holding a policy whose occupancy condition does not match the house.
Call the insurer, or call us, before the moving truck leaves, not after a loss. The conversation is the occupancy change, the date the tenant takes possession, and the form that replaces the HO-3. The Institute's note on renting out your home says a long-term lease is the situation that calls for a landlord or rental-dwelling policy. The switch guide is the order of operations if the whole homeowners policy is also moving to another insurer. Do that bind before you cancel anything.
What does a DP-3 cover compared with the HO-3 I have now?
The Institute's renting-out note says a landlord or rental-dwelling policy is written to cover the structure from covered perils, landlord property you leave on site, your liability as the landlord, and loss of rental income. That is the job the DP-3 is doing on a house you no longer live in. The HO-3 was doing a different job: your home, your belongings, and your personal liability while you lived there.
The DP-3 glossary entry defines the form. Landlord insurance in California and the landlord hub cover the policy. This page is the week you move out.
Should the tenant carry renters insurance?
Yes, for the tenant's own belongings and the tenant's liability. Your DP-3 does not become a contents policy for the people who live in the house. A lease can require the tenant to buy renters insurance and to show you a declarations page. That requirement is a term of the lease between you and the tenant. It does not move the tenant's furniture onto your building policy, and it does not replace the landlord liability on the DP-3.
Our renters insurance page is the policy the tenant buys. Keep a copy of that declarations page with the lease.
What if the house is empty between tenants?
An empty stretch is a different problem from the day a tenant moves in. Tell the insurer the date you leave and the date the lease starts, and ask how that gap is treated on the form you are buying. Do not assume the HO-3 quietly covers the weeks the house is vacant, and do not assume the new DP-3 starts on a date you have not given the insurer.
The empty-house question is on vacant rental property insurance in California. This page is the switch you make because a tenant is about to live there.
What do I send the mortgage company?
Send the servicer the new declarations page after the landlord policy is bound, and tell them the occupancy has changed from owner-occupied to a rental. The mortgagee name, the loan number, and the mailing address on the policy should match what the servicer has on the loan. A lender-placed letter is what arrives when the servicer does not have proof of a policy it will accept. The way to stay ahead of that letter is the declarations page in the servicer's hands before the HO-3 ends.
Keep the HO-3 in force until the DP-3 is bound with an effective date on or before the day the tenant takes possession. If escrow paid the homeowners bill, tell the servicer the policy is changing.
What if the rental only qualifies for the FAIR Plan?
Some rented houses come back from the admitted market with no DP-3 offer. The fallback, and the path from a FAIR Plan dwelling policy toward an admitted DP-3, is a different guide. Read from a landlord FAIR Plan policy to an admitted DP-3 and send us the declination or the FAIR Plan declarations page with the same packet you would send for an admitted quote.
Do not cancel the policy you have, including a FAIR Plan dwelling policy, until the replacement is bound. A nonrenewal letter has its own deadline on the nonrenewal guide.
What is the difference between owner-occupied and non-owner-occupied?
Owner-occupied means you live in the house the policy covers. Non-owner-occupied means you do not: a tenant does, or the house is between tenants. The HO-3 is the owner-occupied contract the Institute describes. The DP-3 is the dwelling form for the house you rent out. The words are occupancy, not a judgment about whether renting is a good idea. They tell the insurer who sleeps there and whose belongings are inside.
The day you move out, the day the lease starts, and the day the tenant receives keys are often three different dates. Tell the insurer the date the occupancy changes.
How do an HO-3, a DP-3, and a renters policy compare?
Read the row for the person who needs protection. Three contracts can be in force on one address, and each one answers for a different person.
| Policy | Who it protects | What it covers | Who buys it |
|---|---|---|---|
| HO-3 | The owner who lives in the house. | The structure, the owner's belongings, and the owner's personal liability, on the terms of that homeowners form. | The owner-occupant, while that person still lives there. |
| DP-3 | The owner who rents the house out. | The building, landlord liability, and lost rent after a covered loss when that coverage is chosen. Landlord property left on site, when the form includes it. | The landlord, before the tenant moves in. |
| Tenant renters | The person who rents from you. | The tenant's belongings and the tenant's liability. Not your building. | The tenant, often because the lease requires proof. |
What should I finish in the month before the tenant moves in?
Use the thirty days before move-in as a checklist, not as a guess that the HO-3 will stretch. Insurance City Agency, LLC prepares the landlord quote at 956 W Robinhood Dr, Stockton, CA 95207, CA License #6003045. Call (209) 670-1556.
- Tell the homeowners insurer you are moving out and the date the tenant will take possession. Ask for the landlord form before you sign the lease if you can.
- Send the address, year built, roof year, and the years of any plumbing, electrical, heating, or roof work.
- Say whether the house will be rented furnished or empty of your furniture, and whether a pool, a trampoline, or a dog will be on the property.
- List prior property claims. The insurer asks. Leaving them off the application is a different problem from the occupancy change.
- Bind the DP-3, or the other landlord form the insurer offers, with an effective date on or before the tenant's first day. Keep the HO-3 until that bind exists.
- Mail or upload the new declarations page to the mortgage servicer the same week. Match the mortgagee clause to the loan.
- Collect the tenant's renters declarations page at move-in if the lease requires it. File it with the lease. It is the tenant's contract, not a substitute for yours.
What if I rent part of the house and still live there?
That is a different situation from moving out. An owner who still lives in the house and rents a room, a casita, or an accessory dwelling unit is not making the HO-3 into a vacant building, and is not automatically on a DP-3 for the whole address. The Insurance Services Office HO-3 sample the Institute publishes includes fair rental value for a portion of the residence premises rented to others while the owner still has the homeowners form. Read your own form. The sample is a reference, not your declarations page.
A rented accessory dwelling unit has its own questions about which structure is on which policy. Those questions are on rented ADU insurance in California. If you are leaving the main house and a tenant will live in all of it, stay on this page and switch the building. If you are staying and renting the back unit, use the ADU guide and tell us which building you sleep in.
What should I send for the landlord quote?
Send the address, the year built, the roof year, the update years, the date you move out, the date the lease starts, whether the house is furnished, and whether there is a pool, a trampoline, or a dog. Add prior claims and a copy of the current HO-3 declarations page so the mortgagee clause can be copied onto the new policy. Call (209) 670-1556 or use the form on this page. Insurance City Agency, LLC writes the quote from that packet.
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Reviewed by Santo Militello, California-licensed agent and owner (CA Lic. #1737723). Our licensed team brings more than 70 years of combined insurance experience. Insurance City Agency, LLC · CA License #6003045 · 956 W Robinhood Dr, Stockton, CA 95207 · (209) 670-1556. Last reviewed 2026-10-23.
Insurance City Agency, LLC · CA License #6003045.
