Which policy fits a California second home you rent out some weekends?

Only in narrow ways. Many insurers adapt the model homeowners form written by the Insurance Services Office, an advisory body. Its 2011 edition insures the house the policy lists as the "residence premises."

What that 2011 form gives a second home you own:

• The building itself: no coverage. The form's dwelling coverage is for the house the policy lists.
• Your belongings kept there: up to 10% of the belongings limit, or $1,000 if that is more.
• Theft there: covered only while you or someone in your household is staying.
• A guest's injury there: covered only if the policy lists the home, and only while renting stays occasional.

When you stay there yourself and guests come only now and then. Some insurers write a second or seasonal home on a homeowners policy of its own.

Occasional renting is the line to watch. The 2011 model form keeps liability coverage for a home rented now and then and used only as a residence, but it never says how often that is. How a homeowners policy treats paying guests goes through that wording.

Insurers set their own lines. One insurer's October 2018 California rules needed its approval for home sharing of more than 90 days a year. They turned away sharing the whole home for more than 180 days a year.

Hosting can change the policy itself. Some insurers attach a home-sharing exclusion, and others sell an add-on that restores coverage for hosts. How home-sharing endorsements work compares the two.

When guests book it most weekends, or you rarely stay there. In a 2020 filing, the FAIR Plan reported that most of the five insurers it reviewed wrote rented homes on dwelling policies, the kind sold as landlord insurance.

A dwelling policy comes with less built in. State regulators wrote in 2016 that liability and medical payments coverage are often left out, though both can be added.

The same paper says a landlord's furnishings are typically left out too, though they can be added back. In two of the five landlord programs the FAIR Plan reviewed, filed from 2015 to 2019, short-term rentals were not eligible.

Before you buy one, ask the insurer:

• Are stays of a few nights allowed, and is there a minimum stay?
• Is liability coverage part of the policy, or must I add it?
• Are the furnishings I leave for guests covered, including against theft?
• If damage closes the home, does the policy pay for lost bookings?
• Does anything change in the weeks my family stays there?

It can, as a last stop for fire coverage. The Plan's dwelling page lists a "Seasonal Rental" type, for a home rented out, in whole or in part, on terms shorter than a year.

The Plan's online estimator offers separate seasonal choices for an owner and a tenant. It also asks whether all or part of the property is "rented for less than 365 days."

For a home with guests, a FAIR Plan policy leaves big gaps. It has no liability coverage for a guest who gets hurt, and it does not cover theft or water damage from a burst pipe.

The Plan also filed a home-sharing endorsement in 2020 that narrows coverage for homes rented under a year, and no public source says if it is still attached. The FAIR Plan describes its dwelling coverage as "a temporary solution." Keep looking for one policy that covers both the home and the rentals, asking standard insurers before specialty ones.

Describe the home's use exactly, and get the insurer's answer in writing. A policy written for a home you visit may not cover one that guests book most weekends. The same answers shape the price, too.

Long empty spells bring rules of their own, set out in how long a house can sit empty. Cities set rules too, so read the city rules for short-term rental insurance before you list.

If you count on a booking site's host protection, check whether AirCover is enough first.

On Casa, a second home and a main home answer the same questionnaire, and a second home gets a few added questions on how it is used. Every home is also asked whether, and how often, any part of it is rented.

Tell the insurer:

• How many nights a year guests stay, and the longest booking.
• Whether guests rent the whole home or part of it, and whether you are there too.
• How many months the home sits empty, and who checks on it.
• Which booking sites you list it on, and any permit your city requires.