Earthquake Insurance

Most earthquake coverage in California is written one of two ways, and the right one depends on your home insurer, your home, and the deductible and limits you want.

The California Earthquake Authority (CEA): a not-for-profit, publicly managed, privately funded provider that offers residential earthquake policies through its member insurers. If your home insurance company participates in the CEA, this is typically how earthquake coverage is offered alongside your homeowners policy. The CEA offers a range of deductible and coverage options.

Private earthquake insurers (outside the CEA): a growing private market, including carriers such as GeoVera and Palomar, writes earthquake coverage independently of the CEA.

Depending on the company, private options can offer different deductible choices, higher limits, standalone policies that are not tied to a particular home insurer, and coverage for some homes the CEA may not write. Some private earthquake products are placed through the surplus-lines market.

Neither is automatically better. The right fit depends on who insures your home, its age and construction, the deductible you are comfortable with, and how much dwelling, personal-property, and loss-of-use coverage you want.

We look at both for you.

A difference-in-conditions (DIC) policy can add earthquake (and often flood) coverage that a standard policy leaves out, and is often the right structure for higher-value homes or those in higher-risk areas. See the Difference in Conditions (DIC) page.

How we help

We review your home’s risk and your current policy, walk you through the CEA and private-market options side by side. We explain how the deductible and limits change both your premium and your protection, and help you make an informed choice rather than a default one. Coverage is governed by the policy form.

Areas we serve

We write earthquake insurance across the San Fernando Valley, greater Los Angeles, the Conejo Valley and Ventura County, the Santa Clarita Valley, and the South Bay, from our office in Granada Hills. For local detail, see earthquake insurance in Northridge, Granada Hills, Sherman Oaks, Burbank, and San Fernando. Or browse all the areas we serve in California.

Does renters insurance cover earthquakes in California?

No. A standard California renters policy excludes earthquake damage to your belongings, so you need a separate earthquake policy for your contents and for the cost of living elsewhere while the unit is unusable. The renters form excludes earth movement, meaning earthquake, and the Department of Insurance’s own renters guide says the same. The two things a renter loses in a quake are exactly the two things a renters earthquake policy is built around: personal property and loss of use. Our renters insurance page covers the base policy; this section covers what sits beside it.

If an earthquake starts a fire, is my renters policy still on the hook?

Yes, for the fire. Insurance Code section 10088.5 says the earthquake exclusion does not relieve an insurer of its duty under a fire policy to cover a fire caused by or following an earthquake. The renters form carries the same idea: earth movement is excluded unless fire, explosion or breakage of glass ensues, and then the ensuing loss is paid, and the exclusion does not apply to theft. Shaking damage stays excluded. The fire damage, and usually theft after a quake, are looked at under your renters policy. Check the exclusions section of your own policy, because wording varies by insurer.

Does my landlord’s insurance cover my belongings after an earthquake?

No. Your landlord’s policy insures the building and the landlord’s own interest, and whether it includes earthquake at all is the landlord’s decision. Your furniture, electronics and clothing are insured only on a policy in your name. That is why Insurance Code section 10087 defines a tenant’s policy insuring personal contents of a residential unit as its own kind of residential property insurance. Your extra living costs while the unit is unusable are also yours to insure.

Will my insurer offer me earthquake coverage if I only rent?

Yes, by law. Insurance Code section 10081 bars an insurer from issuing or renewing residential property insurance unless the named insured is offered earthquake coverage, and section 10087 includes a tenant’s contents policy in that term. Section 10083 lets the offer arrive before, with, or within 60 days after issue or renewal, and if you decline it must be repeated every other year. The offer gives you 30 days from mailing, and silence counts as declining. If you never saw an offer, ask your insurer for it rather than assuming you are covered.

What does a CEA renters earthquake policy pay for?

First the prerequisite: a CEA renters policy exists only alongside a renters policy from a CEA participating insurer, and both must sit with that same insurer. If the renters policy cancels, the CEA policy cancels the same day. Then the coverages, as the CEA publishes them today. Personal property is $5,000 or $25,000, with a deductible of 5 to 25 percent of that limit. Loss of use runs from $1,500 up to $100,000 with no deductible. Emergency repairs pay up to the lesser of $1,000 or 5 percent of the property limit, and some breakable items carry a $500 allowance. The deductible applies once per seismic event, and the policy pays above it up to the limit. The CEA form excludes fire and explosion, flood and tsunami, theft or vandalism after the quake, mold, and property such as vehicles, artwork and most glassware and china. Your declarations page shows the limit and deductible you chose.

Who pays my rent and a hotel if my apartment is red-tagged after an earthquake?

Your renters policy’s loss of use pays only when a covered peril makes the unit unfit to live in, and earthquake is not a covered peril, so it does not respond to shaking damage. A renters earthquake policy’s loss of use is the piece built for this. The CEA form pays the necessary increase in living expenses while the unit is unfit or being repaired, and also when a civil authority bars you from the unit because of quake damage next door. Rent itself is a separate legal mechanism. A landlord must keep a rental fit for occupation under Civil Code section 1941. An untenantable unit gives the tenant repair-and-deduct or vacate remedies, and a lease ends outright only when the thing hired is destroyed. A red tag alone does not end a lease. Whether rent is owed is a landlord-tenant question for an attorney; the insurance answer is the loss of use limit on your declarations page.

How much renters earthquake coverage do I need, and can I buy it right after a quake?

Start from the personal property limit on your renters policy declarations page, because that figure is what you have already told an insurer your belongings are worth. The CEA renters options are $5,000 or $25,000, so a renter carrying $40,000 of contents cannot match that amount through the CEA and may look at the non-CEA market. Then work the deductible: on a $25,000 limit, 10 percent is $2,500 and 25 percent is $6,250, applied once per seismic event. Loss of use has no deductible, so its limit is the number to size against local rents. You can buy a CEA policy at any time; there is no purchase moratorium. The policy covers only earthquakes that begin during the policy period as part of a seismic event that also began during the policy period, and a seismic event runs 360 hours from its first quake. Aftershocks of a quake that struck before your start date fall inside that earlier event and are not covered.

Can I buy renters earthquake coverage outside the CEA?

Yes. The CEA writes most residential earthquake insurance in California, but the Department of Insurance’s list of insurers offering earthquake coverage has a renters column with CEA, non-CEA and stand-alone entries. A non-CEA policy is written by the insurer itself, either attached to your renters policy or as a stand-alone contract, and its limits, deductible and exclusions are that insurer’s own rather than the CEA form’s. Some stand-alone earthquake policies are placed with surplus lines insurers, which are not backed by the California Insurance Guarantee Association. The CEA policy is not backed by the Guarantee Association either, and the CEA must tell you so in writing. Whichever route you take, the earthquake policy is separate from the renters policy and has its own declarations page.

How do you get a renters earthquake quote from us?

Start a personal insurance quote and tell us your renters policy’s personal property limit, your monthly rent, and whether your renters insurer participates in the CEA. If it does, we price the CEA renters policy at each deductible beside it. If it does not, or the contents limit outruns the CEA options, we look at the non-CEA market. Some placements are quick. Others need underwriting review, and we tell you which applies before you decide.

Statutory references and CEA renters limits current as of September 2026 and specific to California. Limits, deductibles and exclusions on your own policies are on their declarations pages.

Earthquake is the peril the FAIR Plan and every standard home policy exclude, and condo owners face it through the association’s master policy as well as their own. The wider program is on our personal insurance page.