Why you NEED renters insurance!
Do you rent an apartment or do you have college students that rent an apartment? Are the personal belongings in the apartment insured? If your answer is, “My landlord covers that; it’s part of my rent,” think again.
Most landlords’ insurance covers only the building, not what’s in it. So if there’s a fire or tornado, your landlord will be insured, but you’ll be left high and dry. That’s why you NEED renters insurance.
Think of all the things you own in your apartment. That fire, tornado, or even a thief could take away or destroy some or all of your valuables. Can you afford to replace those items? Not just expensive things like furniture and electronics. Think about how much money it would cost to replenish your pantry, your linen closet, and the closets of each of the people living in your home. Also, I heard of a claim last Christmas season where someone had been shopping on Black Friday, had a few thousand dollars worth of electronics, computers, gifts, etc. in their car, and it was all stolen. If that person didn’t have a homeowners or renters policy, none of those items would have been covered. Auto insurance does not protect the items you keep in your car.
We often hear “they sued our homeowners insurance” for $50,000 because they fell in our home, our dog bit them, etc. So, even if you think your personal property is not worth insuring, liability insurance is an important and often overlooked type of coverage. When it comes to rental homes and apartments it is up to the renter to decide whether he wants to risk losing everything he owns in order to pay someone else’s medical bills, or if he would prefer to invest in personal liability insurance. Personal liability insurance is a part of every renters package and can be purchased in different increments. Starting at $100,000. Without liability insurance, if someone did sue you because your dog bit them, you would personally be on the hook for all of their medical costs and damages. That could financially ruin a family. This is not something that your landlord would be held responsible for.
Another important coverage a renter’s policy can provide is called additional living expense. If a loss covered by the policy makes your apartment unfit to live in (think fire or tornado), your renter’s policy will provide coverage for any necessary increase in living expenses that you may incur so your household can maintain its normal standard of living. Payment would be for the shortest time required to repair or replace the damage.
Other valuable coverage you can purchase includes identity theft, sewer and sump pump overflow, jewelry, collectibles, and sports equipment.
If you are renter, you can see that there is clearly a need for you to have renters insurance.
Now, how about the landlords. Owning rental properties is quite a business these days. How does requiring your tenants to have a renters policy protect you as the landlord?
If you allow dogs and the dog bites, someone’s insurance is going to be sued. It would make your life a lot easier, if it was the dog owner. Even though you will likely win the case against them, you will still have legal fees and your time.
Tenants cause fires, without renters insurance being the primary insurance, your insurance will become responsible.
In the event of a total loss, with renters insurance, your renters will have monies available to them to find other living arrangements and will be less likely to put the pressure on the property owner, even possibly suing the property owner.
Those are just a couple of the reasons why landlords should require that each renter have at least some coverage.
Renters insurance, much like homeowners insurance, can be modified to meet your needs. It can be very basic coverage, which is relatively inexpensive to very extensive coverage. We would be more than happy to help find a policy that would cover you in the event of a loss.
If you are a landlord and we currently cover your rental properties, feel free to have your renters call us for a quote. Keep in mind we have a referral program that you could take advantage of. You will receive $10 Cub gift card for each qualified referral.
