How to choose insurance for your rental property

[Minna Hu]

I just started to review the insurance policy of our rental properties this year, we invest in multi-unit apartment buildings. My goal is to consolidate the insurance policies, one idea is to use the same company for all our buildings to get better rate.

Right now I am looking for low insurance premium, but during this selection, some other questions popped in my mind, just want to check with you.

1. What coverage do you usually need for your rental properties?

2. What insurance companies in Ontario/Canada have good reputation for covering rental properties, such as reasonable price, and easy to make a claim?

3. One of our properties seems to be using an insurance broker, I wasn't involved when this is set up, I am just wondering, what is the benefit of using an insurance brokerage service, seems they charge 17.5% as commission. 

Thank you, looking forward to your reply!