Apartment building insurance in Salt Lake City

What underwriters ask about a Salt Lake City apartment building

• Wall construction and year builtUnreinforced brick, reinforced masonry, wood frame or concrete. The state says Utah’s codes were updated in the 1970s to outlaw new unreinforced masonry, so the year built is the first clue.
• Retrofit workRoof-to-wall anchors, parapet and chimney bracing, and any engineer’s report. Documented work changes who will offer earthquake coverage.
• City rental licenseSalt Lake City requires a business license for residential rental properties, with a fee discount for owners in the Landlord/Tenant program.
• Habitability responseThe Utah Fit Premises Act gives an owner three calendar days to act on a habitability notice.
• Foothill exposureWhether the state’s wildfire map places the parcel in high risk wildland urban interface.
• Systems and roofWiring, plumbing, heating and roof age, as on any apartment building.

The policy is assembled the same way it is anywhere (how an apartment program is put together). The list above is the Salt Lake City part.

The Wasatch fault and the Magna earthquake

The Working Group on Utah Earthquake Probabilities, in a forecast published by the U.S. Geological Survey in 2016, found a 43 percent probability of one or more earthquakes of magnitude 6.75 or greater in the Wasatch Front region in the next 50 years, and a 57 percent probability of one or more of magnitude 6.0 or greater.

On March 18, 2020 a magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck near Magna. The Utah Geological Survey places it about 10 miles west of downtown Salt Lake City and calls it the largest along the Wasatch Front since settlement in 1847. There were no deaths, but injuries and damage to buildings and homes were reported, and the state’s earthquake program counts nearly 150 historic buildings damaged. The Survey adds that the Wasatch fault zone is expected to produce an earthquake around magnitude 7.0, which would release about 90 times the energy of the Magna event.

• Earthquake is not in the property policy. Commercial property forms exclude earth movement. The Utah Insurance Department tells homeowners the same thing about their policies: earthquake coverage is supplemental and has to be added. For an apartment building it is a separate policy or an endorsement.
• The deductible is a percentage. Earthquake deductibles are normally a percentage of the insured value, not a flat amount, and may apply separately to each building.
• Soil matters as well as walls. The Utah Geological Survey says the valleys of the Wasatch Front are especially vulnerable to liquefaction because of susceptible soils, shallow groundwater and a relatively high probability of moderate to large earthquakes. Underwriters look at the site as well as the structure.
• Rent stops too. If you want lost rents covered after an earthquake, that has to be on the earthquake policy; the income coverage on the property policy follows the property policy’s exclusions. How income coverage works.

Older brick buildings and Fix the Bricks

Utah’s Division of Emergency Management describes an unreinforced masonry building as one with brick walls and few or no steel reinforcing bars, more likely than a modern structure to collapse in an earthquake. It lists signs you can see from the sidewalk: a row of bricks turned endways every five or six courses, deeply recessed windows, and rows of bolts or rosettes on the exterior wall. None of these proves it, but expect the question on any pre-1970s brick walk-up.

Owners often ask me whether Salt Lake City’s Fix the Bricks program will help pay to retrofit an apartment building. As the city describes it, no. The program makes seismic retrofits to low-income brick homes built before 1975, the applicant must live in the home, and the priorities are roof-to-wall connections and chimney bracing. As of November 2026 the city’s page says applications are closed and the wait for new applicants is more than ten years. An apartment owner pays for a retrofit privately; the state points owners of historic buildings to federal and state historic tax credit programs.

For insurance, the retrofit paperwork is worth keeping whoever paid for it. An engineer’s letter describing wall anchors and parapet bracing is what moves a brick building from a decline to a quote on the earthquake side, and it helps on the property side as well. If the building is repaired after a loss, current code may require more than putting back what was there, which is what ordinance or law coverage is for.

The city rental license and the Good Landlord program

Salt Lake City’s Landlord/Tenant Initiative, which the city says is sometimes called the Good Landlord Program, sits inside business licensing. Under it, all residential rental properties require a business license, and the city lists single and double family homes, boarding houses and fraternities and sororities as included. Owners who take part in the Landlord/Tenant program can have per-unit licensing fees discounted by up to 95 percent. The city says the goal is to eliminate code violations and public nuisances and to control and prevent illegal activity on rental properties.

A current license, the program training certificate and a written tenant screening and lease-enforcement practice answer several of the questions on a habitational liability application before they are asked.

Rent is not regulated locally. Utah Code 57-20-1 says a county, city or town may not enact an ordinance or resolution that would control rents or fees on private residential property without the express approval of the Legislature. So the loss of rents limit is set from the actual rent roll and a realistic rebuild time.

The Utah Fit Premises Act

The Fit Premises Act (Utah Code Title 57, Chapter 22) is the state’s habitability law. An owner may not rent premises unless they are safe, sanitary and fit for human occupancy, and must maintain common areas in a sanitary and safe condition, maintain electrical systems, plumbing, heating and hot and cold water, and keep any air conditioning system operable.

• Three calendar daysThe corrective period after a renter’s written notice of a condition that violates a standard of habitability.
• Ten calendar daysThe corrective period for a requirement imposed by the rental agreement.
• Twenty-four hoursFor a dangerous condition, one posing a substantial risk of imminent loss of life or significant physical harm, the owner must begin remedial action within 24 hours of notice.
• Renter remediesIf the owner does not take substantial action in time, the renter may end the lease with rent abated, or repair and deduct up to two months’ rent, whichever the notice chose.

The Act also says an owner may not be held liable under that chapter for a claim for mental suffering or anguish. That does not limit an ordinary injury lawsuit over a stair, a walkway or a heater, which is what the general liability policy and an umbrella respond to.

Foothill wildfire, flood and no FAIR Plan

Buildings near the benches and canyon mouths get a wildfire question. A 2025 state law (H.B. 48, now Utah Code 31A-22-1310, effective January 1, 2026) says an insurer may use only the boundary in the wildfire risk mapping tool kept by the Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands to decide whether a property is high risk wildland urban interface. If an insurer cancels or nonrenews wildland urban interface property because of wildfire risk, the notice must state the facts behind the decision with reasonable precision. The state’s Wildfire Risk Assessment Portal shows the map.

Flood is always a separate policy, bought through the National Flood Insurance Program or a private flood insurer. In a city where creeks swell with snowmelt each spring, it is worth knowing the flood zone of any building near a channel. How flood insurance works.

Some states run a FAIR Plan that insures property the regular market turns down. Utah does not. As of November 2026 I find no residual market property plan in the Insurance Code; a bill in the 2026 General Session (H.B. 562) proposed creating one for residential and commercial property, and it is not on the Legislature’s list of bills passed. A building the standard insurers decline goes to the surplus lines market, so a complete file matters more here than in a state with a backstop.

What to send me

• Address, year built, stories and unit count, with wall construction for each building and photos of the exterior.
• Retrofit and engineering records: wall anchors, parapet or chimney bracing, and any structural report.
• The Salt Lake City business license for the rental and your Landlord/Tenant program certificate, if you have one.
• The current rent roll and a recent operating statement.
• Current declarations pages for property, liability, umbrella, earthquake and flood, whichever you carry.
• Five years of loss runs, with what was repaired after each claim.
• System updates with years: roof, wiring, plumbing, heating, and sprinklers or alarms if present.
• Location notes: flood zone, and whether the state wildfire map places the parcel in high risk wildland urban interface.

Common questions

General information about insuring apartment buildings in Salt Lake City as of November 2026, not legal or engineering advice. City licensing rules, the Utah Fit Premises Act, wildfire mapping and retrofit programs change; confirm your obligations with Salt Lake City, the Utah Insurance Department and counsel, and read your own policy for exclusions and deductibles. Coverage depends on underwriting and the terms, conditions and exclusions of the policy actually issued.