Issue with lender and insurance

[Nick Brubaker]

Hello all,

I have a rental property bought with cash and owned under an LLC. I later refinanced it (added financing). My insurance policy has recently been discontinued and replaced with a similar policy (really just internal renaming/IDing). Just received a message from my mortgage bank that the:

"Name Insured on the property is not correct. According to our records the Named Insured should read as follows LLC)>. To comply with the terms of your loan, please contact your insurance agent and request the Named Insured on your policy be updated accordingly.."

How do you advise following up on this? The rental is owned under the LLC for a reason. What are the implications of the insurance naming the LLC or my own name (single member LLC btw)? Is there reason to push for keeping the LLC the Named Insured and is that even an option typically?

Thank you.  

[George Randall]

Kind of confusing how you've laid this out, but is this the scenario?

Property titled and insured under LLC

Loan in your personal name uses property as collateral (I know you described this differently, but I suspect this is how the mortgager and the insurance company view this).

In this case, the mortgager loaned money to you and not the LLC. So, if the insurance insures the LLC, the mortgager doesn't have a right to be paid first in case of a loss. That's what they are complaining about.

So if I have the scenario correct, it seems like the insurance should be in your personal name with the LLC listed as also insured. This should align the interests of all parties. The main thing is to do what the mortgager asks, as it is their interest that must be primary as lien holder on the collatoral.