Renter’s Insurance

Do I Need Renter’s Insurance As A Tenant?

Most people are somewhat familiar with the ins and outs of a standard homeowner’s insurance policy, but by contrast, they may not know much about renter’s insurance.

Sometimes, renters assume that since they don’t actually own the premises they are living at, there is no need to insure anything. But renter’s insurance can provide appropriate protection to mitigate many risks that ordinary tenants face.

Read on to learn the basics of renter’s insurance, condo insurance, and what they offer the policyholder.

What Does Renter’s Insurance Do?

The main purpose of renter’s insurance, when taken out by a tenant, is to protect his or her property that is located in the apartment or house being rented. Thankfully, most renter’s policies are very affordable and can be flexible to your needs if you want to customize one.

While every insurer and every policy differs somewhat, here are the basic components that may be a part of most renter’s insurance plans:

• Personal property protection – Your plan will cover some or all of your property that you keep inside your dwelling place in the event it is damaged, destroyed, or stolen. There may be exclusions, of course, in regard to the specific cause of the property damage, but the most common causes will typically be covered. Repair cost or replacement value is the usual standard of how reimbursement is paid out.
• Limited liability coverage – This is also an important part of a renter’s policy. It covers you if you are held liable for personal injury or property damage to someone else due to covered events that take place in the rented unit and/or lot.
• Additional living expenses – Some policies include a stipulation that you are covered for hotel rooms or eating out while forced out of your rented property. This applies if the premises become uninhabitable, due to a fire, perhaps, or a backed-up sewage system.
• Miscellaneous – Other elements of a policy may include coverage for backed-up sewers or drains and for stolen credit cards.

How Can Renter’s Insurance Benefit Me?

Landlords often require you to buy renter’s insurance in order to live in their leased living spaces. They do this for a number of reasons, including:

• To avoid having renters run to them personally over every problem.
• To avoid conflicts among different renters over stolen property.
• Damage to the unit done by pets is usually covered in renter’s insurance policies – this makes landlords as happy as it does tenants! (And it may make landlords more willing to allow pets in their apartments.)

But as to renters, what are the benefits to them of having a renter’s insurance policy? Here are the top 7 reasons that renters do well to defend themselves with a renter’s insurance plan:

1. All the property you own in the world may be in your apartment. It makes sense to insure it since some of it may be valuable and hard to replace.
2. Property being stolen at an apartment complex is not rare, to say the least. Your renter’s policy will cover this.
3. If you are leasing furniture or borrowing property, most policies will cover that too.
4. Damage done to your property or to the apartment or rented house by children or pets is usually covered.
5. Items left in a car parked outside the apartment may be covered as well.
6. The liability coverage protects you against lawsuits should someone get injured inside your rented abode.
7. If you are forced out of your rented residence during a disaster, you don’t want to get stuck with a big bill for hotel rooms and related expenses.

What About Condo Insurance?

Similar to renter’s insurance but a bit different is condo insurance. If you own or rent a condominium, then you probably already pay for a degree of insurance coverage via your condo association membership. But condo insurance goes further, offering you a number of benefits.

In general, there are three main areas not covered by condo association agreements that are covered by a personal condo insurance policy:

1. Your personal possessions that you keep in your condo unit. This works the same basic way as with renter’s insurance discussed above.
2. Coverage for certain components of your condo’s interior structure, like countertops, light or water fixtures, and hardwood flooring.
3. Liability coverage should a visitor be injured at your condo or should you be deemed responsible for damaging someone else’s property when that person is visiting your condo.

Additionally, some condo policies will add in identity theft protection, loss assessment if the condo association says you are responsible for damaging common areas of the condo, and other coverage components. Your insurance company can likely offer you special add-ons (riders), allow you to customize the amount of coverage you buy, and let your build your own policy in other ways as well.

Both renter’s insurance and condominium insurance are less well known than homeowner’s insurance by most people. And yet, if you rent the place you live or visit regularly, this kind of coverage can be invaluable.

To learn more about how renter’s and condo insurance works, to talk to an experienced insurance agent to customize your policy, or to get a free no-obligation quote, contact Flagler County (FL) Insurance Agency today!