Best Home Warranties for a Rental Property in 2025

Owning a rental property means you’re responsible for keeping everything in working condition. A home warranty might help you maintain the rental and potentially save you money. When looking at home warranties for a rental property, you'll want to pick a plan that has affordable monthly premiums, covers your type of property and doesn’t exclude the type of coverage you want.

Here are our top picks of the best home warranties for private rental properties. While these can be purchased by homeowners who rent out their properties, some companies allow tenants to purchase coverage as well — tenants should call a company to confirm they can purchase a plan.

First American Home Warranty is our pick for high coverage limits because the company doesn’t cap how much it’ll pay for repairs on HVAC, electrical and plumbing systems. Although that’s not a guarantee that the company will repair every issue you have with those systems, it does mean that you’re less likely to max out your coverage for approved repairs.

Rental property coverage:

• Home types: Single family homes, condos, townhouses and some manufactured or mobile homes.

• Property size: Covers up to 4,000 square feet; larger properties can be covered for an additional fee.

First American Home Warranty doesn’t list multi-family units on its website as a type of covered home, its sample contract says coverage is available for multiple units and guest houses for an extra fee.

Unlike some home warranty companies, First American doesn’t cover shared appliances or systems outside of specific pool coverage.

A benefit of First American’s coverage includes repair limits up to $7,000 for appliances with the company’s top plan. It also has flexible service fees that allow you to choose between $100 or $125 per claim, with the higher claim option lowering your monthly premium. However, First American’s customer satisfaction scores are mixed across online consumer websites.

Old Republic Home Protection is the only company we considered that covers short-term rentals, which differ from long-term rentals that require the traditional one-year lease. We’re looking at you, Airbnb superhosts!

Rental property coverage:

• Home type: Covers most types of homes, including single-family homes, condos, townhouses, mobile homes, duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes.

• Property size: Covers up to 5,000 square feet; larger properties can be covered for an additional fee; guest houses with 750 square feet or less can also be added for an extra fee.

Old Republic will only cover shared appliances or systems, such as communal kitchens in multi-unit buildings, if every unit in the building is covered by one of its plans.

Some noteworthy benefits of Old Republic’s plans include up to $13,000 in coverage for HVAC repairs, no limit on electrical repairs and up to $7,000 for appliance repairs with the company’s top plan. You can also choose between $100 and $125 for your service fee, the more expensive of which lowers your monthly premium.

Old Republic has relatively consistent customer satisfaction scores on online consumer websites, giving it a higher rating than many other companies.

For proprietors who only want to cover their renters’ appliance repairs, 2-10 is contender with its Simply Kitchen plan. The option covers several kitchen appliances, including the ice maker in a refrigerator (a contentious item among home warranty companies).

Rental property coverage:

• Home type: Covers single-family homes, condos, townhomes and multi-unit properties, such as duplexes; doesn't cover mobile homes but will cover guest homes.

• Property size: Covers up to 5,000 square feet; larger properties can be covered for an additional fee.

2-10 Home Buyers Warranty will cover shared systems in multi-unit properties if each unit has its own plan.

Despite having relatively lower coverage limits than some of its competitors — only paying up to $4,000 for HVAC coverage, for example — 2-10’s premiums are competitive and pair with lower service fees than some other home warranty companies. However, it does have a relatively low customer satisfaction score among consumers online.

If you’re only worried about covering repairs for your major home systems, take a look at American Home Shield’s ShieldSilver plan. It covers HVAC, plumbing and electrical systems with a few items that other companies overlook, including doorbells and faucets.

Rental property coverage:

• Home type: Covers single-family homes, townhomes, condos, mobile homes, duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes; doesn't cover mobile homes but will cover guest homes; guest houses on the same property as a primary residence can be added to a home warranty plan for the main house.

• Property size: Covers up to 10,000 square feet for single-family homes and 5,000 square feet for other properties.

American Home Shield will cover shared appliances and systems, but you’ll need to set up your plan to do so in advance. To do this, you can ask for one plan that covers all units in the property or cover each unit with an individual plan.

Other benefits of American Home Shield’s coverage include up to $15,000 in repairs for HVAC systems and a choice between $100 and $125 for your service fee. The company’s customer satisfaction scores on consumer websites are mixed.

American Home Shield is one of the few home warranty companies that varies its pricing by ZIP code; this might work in your favor and get you a cheaper quote than other customers for the same coverage, but it could also lead to a higher premium.

Benefits of a home warranty for a rental property

1. It might save you money on repairs. If your claims are approved and covered by the company, you might save money compared to if you’d paid to make the repair out of pocket.

2. You might be able to deduct the cost on your taxes. Because the monthly premiums and service fees go toward repairing the property, you might be able to deduct the cost as an expenditure for your rental property.

3. A home warranty might make tenants feel more comfortable. Some tenants might find it comforting to know they have a home warranty available if something stops working, especially if you don’t live near the property to fix it yourself.

» MORE: Do you need a home warranty? How to decide

Downsides to rental home warranties

1. You can’t always choose your repair company. If you don’t like the repair company that your home warranty company sends to your property, you’ll have to either figure out how to work with them or request a new repair technician.

2. You can’t control how long it takes for a repair. Online reviews of some home warranty companies say that customers have waited weeks or months for repairs. Rental tenants are unlikely to be comfortable with that kind of wait time. 

3. Most home warranties have coverage exclusions. If the cause of an issue is listed as an exclusion in your contract, the company won’t pay to fix it. This could end up costing you more out of pocket than if you’d repaired it without the added expense of a home warranty premium.

4. You’re not guaranteed to have every claim approved. If the company denies your claim, you’ll have to pay for the repair out of pocket in addition to having paid the service fee and monthly premium for the home warranty.

4 things to know about home warranties for rental properties

1. Not all coverage is available for all types of properties. For example, limited roof leak coverage might not be available for condos or townhomes despite being available for traditional houses.

2. Not all coverage is available in every location. American Home Shield, for example, doesn’t offer roof leak coverage in Hawaii.

3. Some companies have requirements for certain homes. To qualify for coverage, for example, a manufactured home might have to be permanently secured to the ground or located on the land owned by the homeowner. 

4. Some companies won’t cover homes on historic registers. This is usually listed in the agreement if it is excluded from coverage.

» MORE: What does a home warranty cover?

Methodology

We research home warranty companies by comparing multiple factors, including plans, coverage limits and service agreement terms and conditions. By comparing benefits across the industry, we identify companies and plans that we believe are the best options for homeowners.