Every property in the City of St. Louis is in a Housing Conservation District, so rental units are inspected before they are occupied. Brick construction helps with fire and hurts with earthquake. Tornado, hail and flash flood have each hit hard here since 2001. Send me the building details, inspection certificates, rent roll and loss history and I can take it to the markets that write older Midwest masonry.
What a St. Louis underwriter asks first
- MasonrySolid brick bearing walls or brick veneer over frame, the condition of parapets, chimneys and tuckpointing, and the year of the roof.
- City inspectionsA current Certificate of Inspection for each rental unit, or a commercial occupancy permit on a larger building, and any open violations.
- EarthquakeExcluded from the property policy. Whether to buy it, and at what deductible, is a decision for the owner and the lender.
- Storm historyHail and tornado claims, and whether the repairs were finished and permitted.
- WaterBasement and garden-level units, sewer backup, and flood, which is always a separate policy.
- Lead paintPre-1978 buildings with young children in residence, and the records of any city lead inspection.
How the coverage is assembled is the same as anywhere (how apartment programs are put together). What follows is what changes because the building is in St. Louis.
Occupancy inspections, lead and the energy standard
The city’s Building Division states that 100 percent of property in St. Louis is located in a Housing Conservation District. Under Ordinance 71835 that means a city inspection: a basic code check for interior violations and minimum exterior standards under the International Property Maintenance Code.
- Before a tenant moves in. For rental units, a Certificate of Inspection must be obtained before the unit is occupied. Inspectors look at the exterior, the interior and the interior common areas, and set how many people may live in the unit.
- How long it lasts. The city says a certificate is valid for twelve months, and that rental dwelling units need a reinspection every three years or upon a change in occupancy. Owner-occupied properties are exempt from that reinspection.
- Violations. If a certificate is issued with violations, the owner has thirty days to make the repairs.
- Larger buildings. The city handles multi-family dwellings of six or more units under its commercial occupancy permit process.
Lead. The city reminds owners that many homes built before 1978 contain lead-based paint and that children under six are at greatest risk. City lead inspectors inspect residential properties free of charge where a child under six or a pregnant woman lives, and owners may apply for financial assistance when hazards are found. Many liability policies on older apartments exclude or sublimit lead claims, so I tell you what the quote says about it.
Energy standard. Buildings of 50,000 square feet and above fall under the city’s Building Energy Performance Standards, Ordinance 71132. The Building Energy Improvement Board approved targets for the second compliance cycle in April 2026. Work done to meet it changes the building’s replacement cost and should reach the insurer.
Brick buildings and the New Madrid zone
The Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance calls Missouri the third largest market for earthquake insurance among the states, after California and Washington. It cites a U.S. Geological Survey estimate that the chance of a magnitude 7.5 or greater earthquake in the New Madrid zone over the next 50 years is 7 to 10 percent, and 25 to 40 percent for one exceeding magnitude 6. The department’s earthquake report places the highest-risk area from the bootheel up the Mississippi River to the entire St. Louis metropolitan area.
Construction is the issue for apartment owners. The city’s preservation plan describes walk-up apartment buildings as ubiquitous in St. Louis in the first two decades of the twentieth century, and the examples it documents are brick. The Missouri Geological Survey notes that the 1811 and 1812 earthquakes damaged buildings in St. Louis, 150 miles or more to the north, and that unreinforced masonry buildings that have not been retrofitted remain especially susceptible. The insurance department says the same thing in pricing terms: wood frame costs less to insure for earthquake than brick or stone, and some insurers will not offer earthquake insurance on masonry homes at all.
- It is separate. Earthquake shaking is excluded from standard property policies and from the FAIR Plan. On an apartment building it is bought as its own policy or an added coverage. How commercial earthquake insurance works.
- The deductible is a percentage. The department describes deductibles of 10 to 20 percent as common on residential earthquake coverage. On a commercial building, ask what the percentage is applied to and whether it is per building.
- Few owners carry it. In the department’s county table, 18.7 percent of insured residences in the City of St. Louis had earthquake coverage in 2023, against 43.1 percent in St. Louis County.
- The market has been widening. The department’s 2025 survey found 37 percent of insurers writing new earthquake policies in Missouri, up from 32 percent a year earlier.
For a brick building I ask for anything that documents the structure: wall type, parapet bracing and any engineer’s report.
Tornado and hail
The National Weather Service office in St. Louis has documented three events that shape underwriting here:
- May 16, 2025A tornado touched down in Clayton around 2:41 pm, strengthened quickly and moved through the northern portions of the City of St. Louis at EF3 intensity, with maximum winds up to 152 mph, before crossing the Mississippi River into Illinois.
- April 22, 2011The Good Friday tornado reached EF4 in Bridgeton and ran 22 miles across St. Louis County and the northern tip of the city into Illinois. The Weather Service counted 2,700 structures damaged, including 137 commercial buildings with large or total losses.
- April 10, 2001A single supercell dropped hail of 1 to 3 inches along Interstate 70 into St. Louis. The Weather Service believes nearly every home and business in northern St. Louis County was damaged, and counts 8,000 commercial insurance claims in Missouri.
After a year like 2025, insurers ask harder questions about roofs, masonry repairs and vacant units, and wind and hail deductibles are often a percentage of the building limit (how those deductibles work). Two coverages matter more on old brick. Ordinance or law coverage pays the added cost of rebuilding a damaged older building to current code. Loss of rents has to last long enough to rebuild masonry, which is slower than framing.
Flash flood and water below grade
On July 26, 2022, St. Louis Lambert International Airport recorded 8.64 inches of rain, a new all-time daily record that broke the 6.85 inches set in 1915. The Weather Service measured 7.68 inches in one six-hour period and issued a Flash Flood Emergency for parts of St. Louis City and County.
Flood is always a separate policy: a commercial property policy excludes it, and the FAIR Plan does not provide it. Water that backs up through sewers or drains is a different exclusion again, bought back by endorsement where an insurer offers it. For buildings with garden-level units or mechanical rooms in the basement I quote flood insurance with the property policy and check the backup limit. Background: Missouri flood risk and the NFIP.
The FAIR Plan, and what Missouri law puts on the owner
Last-resort property coverage. The Missouri FAIR Plan, based in St. Louis, will consider a building the standard market has declined, but it is a narrow policy. A building with five or more families goes on its commercial form, the most it offers is one million dollars for all buildings and contents combined at one location, and it pays on a named-peril, actual cash value basis. It provides no liability, earthquake, flood or sewer backup coverage, and it inspects every new property. For most apartment buildings the working alternative is the surplus lines market, which can write the full value.
State landlord rules. Missouri bars cities from regulating rents on private property under section 441.043, so loss of rents is insured at the rents you actually collect. Section 441.233 treats a landlord who willfully cuts off electric, gas, water or sewer service as guilty of forcible entry and detainer. Under section 441.510, a city or a recognized neighborhood association can ask a court to appoint a receiver for a building with code violations that threaten health or safety, after sixty days’ written notice.
Crime on the premises. Missouri’s Business Premises Safety Act limits a business’s duty to guard against criminal acts by others, but section 537.785 defines “business” to leave out commercial residential and lodging operations. An apartment owner does not get that protection, so security measures, incident records and the limit on the umbrella carry the weight.
What to send me
- Address, year built, stories, unit count and whether the walls are solid brick or veneer.
- Roof, tuckpointing and parapet work with years, and any engineer’s report on the structure.
- Certificates of Inspection or the commercial occupancy permit, and any open violations.
- The current rent roll and a recent operating statement.
- Current declarations pages for property, liability, umbrella, and earthquake or flood if you carry them.
- Five years of loss runs, including 2025 storm claims and proof the repairs were completed.
- System updates with years: wiring, plumbing, boilers and water heaters.
- Lead records: any city lead inspection or clearance for pre-1978 units.
Common questions
Who insures apartment buildings in St. Louis?
Standard and surplus lines insurers both write St. Louis apartments; older brick buildings, storm claims and vacancy usually decide which. As an independent broker I match the building to the markets that want that profile.
Do I need earthquake insurance on a St. Louis apartment building?
No law requires it, though a lender may. The state insurance department places the whole St. Louis metropolitan area in Missouri’s highest-risk zone, and earthquake is excluded from the standard property policy, so it has to be bought separately.
Why is earthquake insurance harder to get on a brick building in St. Louis?
Unreinforced masonry performs poorly in shaking. The Missouri insurance department notes that wood frame costs less to insure and that some insurers will not offer earthquake coverage on masonry homes, and commercial underwriters look at brick the same way.
Why did my apartment insurance go up in St. Louis after 2025?
The May 16, 2025 tornado crossed the northern part of the city at EF3 strength. After an event like that, insurers reprice wind and hail, raise deductibles and look harder at roof age and masonry condition.
Does my St. Louis rental unit need a city inspection before a tenant moves in?
Yes. The city says all property in St. Louis is in a Housing Conservation District and that a Certificate of Inspection must be obtained before a rental unit is occupied.
Does apartment building insurance cover flood in St. Louis?
No. Flood is a separate policy, and sewer or drain backup is a separate exclusion that has to be added back. The July 2022 flash flood set the city’s all-time daily rainfall record.
Can the Missouri FAIR Plan insure an apartment building in St. Louis?
It can write five or more units on its commercial policy, up to one million dollars for all buildings and contents at one location, on a named-peril, actual cash value basis with no liability, earthquake or flood coverage.
General information about insuring apartment buildings in the City of St. Louis as of November 2026, not legal advice. Housing Conservation, occupancy permit, lead and energy rules are set by city ordinance and change; suburban municipalities in St. Louis County have their own occupancy rules. Confirm your building’s status with the St. Louis Building Division and your obligations with counsel. Coverage depends on underwriting and the terms, conditions and exclusions of the policy actually issued.