Earnings per Common Share (Details) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2017	Mar. 31, 2016
Numerator:
Net income attributable to Maiden shareholders	$ 26,523	$ 36,893
Dividends on preference shares	(6,033)	(9,677)
Amount allocated to participating common shareholders	(7)	(16)
Numerator for basic EPS - net income allocated to Maiden common shareholders	20,483	27,200
Potentially dilutive securities:
Dividends on convertible preference shares - Series B	0	2,990
Numerator for diluted EPS - net income allocated to Maiden common shareholders after assumed conversion	$ 20,483	$ 30,190
Denominator:
Weighted average number of common shares - basic (in shares)	86,350,850	73,871,277
Potentially dilutive securities:
Share options and restricted share units (in shares)	1,085,754	1,051,458
Convertible preference shares (in shares)	0	10,876,642
Adjusted weighted average number of common shares and assumed conversions – diluted (in shares)	87,436,604	85,799,377
Basic earnings per share attributable to Maiden common shareholders (in dollars per share)	$ 0.24	$ 0.37
Diluted earnings per share attributable to Maiden common shareholders (in dollars per share)	$ 0.23	$ 0.35
Share options [Member]
Potentially dilutive securities:
Anti-dilutive share options excluded from the calculation of diluted earnings per common share (in shares)	0	0
Preference shares - Series A [Member]
Numerator:
Dividends on preference shares	$ (3,094)	$ (3,094)
Convertible preference shares - Series B [Member]
Numerator:
Dividends on preference shares	0	(2,990)
Preference shares - Series C [Member]
Numerator:
Dividends on preference shares	$ (2,939)	$ (3,593)