Apartment building insurance in Memphis

What underwriters ask about a Memphis apartment building

• Ice and freezeThe February 2022 ice storm left about half an inch of ice in Memphis, and in December 2022 the Weather Service recorded a drop from 44 degrees to 10 in six hours. Underwriters ask how pipes and vacant units are protected.
• Tornado, wind and hailThe National Weather Service confirmed fourteen tornadoes in the Mid-South on March 31 and April 1, 2023, three of them rated EF-3. Roof age decides the wind and hail terms.
• EarthquakeThe U.S. Geological Survey says Memphis lies within the New Madrid seismic zone. Earthquake is a separate purchase.
• FloodIn May 2011 the Mississippi crested at Memphis at 48.03 feet, and backwater pushed the Wolf River over flood stage. Flood is a separate policy.
• Code enforcement recordUnresolved violations can put an owner before the Memphis and Shelby County Environmental Court.

The policy structure is the same as elsewhere (how apartment programs are put together). What Memphis changes is the list of perils that need their own answer.

Ice storms and hard freezes

The National Weather Service office in Memphis calls the early February 2022 event one of the most catastrophic ice storms on record for the Mid-South. Thousands of people were without power for up to a week in sub-freezing temperatures, and the utility estimated that 240,000 people were affected by outages in the Memphis area alone. Another multi-day ice event followed from January 30 to February 2, 2023.

The cold snap before Christmas 2022 was a different kind of loss. The Arctic front arrived on December 22, the Weather Service recorded a 34-degree drop in six hours, and the lowest reading in the Memphis area was three below zero, at Germantown. The Weather Service issued a Wind Chill Warning for it, the first its Memphis office had ever issued.

For an apartment owner the claim that follows is burst pipes, and coverage has conditions. The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance has told homeowners that frozen-pipe damage might not be covered when it comes from negligence, such as failing to keep adequate heat on when you could have. Commercial property policies carry their own versions of that condition, especially for vacant units and buildings.

• Heat in vacant units: who checks it, how often, and whether there is a written freeze plan.
• Exposed plumbing: lines in breezeways, attics, exterior walls and sprinkler risers.
• Vacancy: a mostly empty building may need different terms. How vacant building coverage works.
• Loss of rents: sized for units that stay down while plumbers are booked across the city. How income coverage works.

Tornado, straight-line wind and hail

The 2023 outbreak shows the range. One of the EF-3 tornadoes struck Covington, in Tipton County, with estimated peak winds of 150 miles an hour, and the same night the Weather Service logged storm reports in Shelby County of trees uprooted near Germantown and large trees falling on houses in Memphis. On March 3, 2023 the office issued a rare High Wind Warning; it had issued only ten others since 2006. And in December 2023 the Mid-South saw what the office calls its largest outbreak of significant hail on record for that month, with stones two inches and larger.

Tornado, wind and hail are covered causes of loss on a standard property policy. The questions are about terms:

• Is there a separate wind and hail deductible, and is it a percentage of each building’s value or a flat amount? How those deductibles work.
• How are roofs settled? Replacement cost or actual cash value, and whether cosmetic hail damage is excluded.
• Trees: debris removal limits matter in a city with this much canopy over its buildings.
• Roof schedule: age and covering for each building. More on wind and hail coverage.

New Madrid: earthquake is a separate decision

In the winter of 1811 and 1812 the New Madrid seismic zone produced a sequence that included three very large earthquakes, estimated between magnitude 7 and 8. The Geological Survey’s estimate for the zone is a 25 to 40 percent chance of a magnitude 6.0 or greater earthquake in the next 50 years and about a 7 to 10 percent chance of a repeat of 1811 and 1812 in the same period. It adds that seismic waves in this region do damage over a larger area than the same magnitude would in the West, and it has published liquefaction potential maps for Memphis and Shelby County.

The state insurance department is direct about the gap: traditional homeowners and business insurance policies do not cover earthquake damage, and earthquake deductibles usually run 10 to 20 percent of the coverage limit. For an apartment building that means a separate earthquake policy or endorsement, a deductible large enough to plan for, and questions about construction: year built, masonry or frame, number of stories, and soil. Lenders on larger buildings sometimes have their own requirements. How commercial earthquake insurance works.

Flood on the Mississippi and the Wolf

The Weather Service’s account of the 2011 flood lists the Memphis gauge’s flood stage as 34 feet and major flood stage as 46. The river crested at 48.03 feet on May 10, 2011, second only to 48.70 feet in February 1937. Parts of Beale Street, Riverside Drive and Mud Island flooded, and backwater from the Mississippi pushed the Wolf River above flood stage, flooding numerous homes along it in North Memphis and Raleigh.

Flood is excluded from the property policy on an apartment building and is always a separate policy, through the National Flood Insurance Program, a private flood insurer, or both. Buildings near the Wolf River and its tributaries deserve a look even when the main river is miles away, because backwater is how the 2011 flood reached them. How flood insurance works, and more on the state: Tennessee flood risk and the NFIP.

Landlord duties, code enforcement and Environmental Court

Tennessee’s Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act does not apply statewide. The state says it applies only to residential rental agreements in counties with a population of more than 75,000 on the 2010 census, and Shelby County is one of them. A 2021 law removed the reference to later censuses, so the list of covered counties no longer grows with population.

• Landlord dutyWhere the Act applies, the state’s summary is that landlords must maintain rentals that meet building and housing codes affecting health and safety.
• City code enforcementFor single or multi-family residential property, City of Memphis Code Enforcement issues a violation order; failure to comply may mean an appearance before the Environmental Court, plus fees and penalties.
• Environmental CourtThe court hears cases involving properties that violate health, fire, building, zoning and animal codes, which the city says often rise to the level of public nuisance.
• Neighborhood Preservation ActCivil suits over problem properties under Tennessee Code 13-6-101 and following are also heard there.

Liability underwriters read that record. Open cases, repeat violations or a nuisance suit narrow the market, and a clean file with repairs documented widens it. Most injury claims still come from stairs, railings, lighting and parking lots, so limits and an umbrella should match the unit count.

What to send me

• Address, year built, stories, unit count and construction type for each building.
• Roof details: covering, age and last replacement, by building.
• Freeze history: what happened in February 2022 and December 2022, and what was changed afterward.
• Occupancy: current rent roll and the number of vacant or down units.
• Code record: open violation orders or Environmental Court cases, with proof of repairs.
• Current declarations pages for property, earthquake, flood, liability and umbrella.
• Five years of loss runs, and system updates with years: plumbing, electrical, heating.

Common questions

General information about insuring apartment buildings in Memphis as of November 2026, not legal advice. Coverage conditions vary by policy, and landlord-tenant law, city codes and court procedures change. Confirm your obligations under the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act and local codes with counsel. Coverage depends on underwriting and the terms, conditions and exclusions of the policy actually issued.