When you’re renting an apartment, condo, or single-family home, your landlord may or may not require renter’s insurance before signing the lease. Even if your landlord doesn’t require it, however, you may still want to take out this insurance as a precaution against the potentially devastating consequences associated with personal property loss/damage and even the unlikely (yet possible) circumstance in which the residence becomes uninhabitable.
Renter’s insurance can be a financial lifesaver in some cases, yet only one-third of renters actually take out a renter’s insurance policy (and many could be doing it solely because their landlord required it). Whereas a vast majority of homeowners have homeowner’s insurance – likely because mortgage lenders require it and some states even have legal mandates requiring a minimum level of coverage – renter’s insurance is substantially less popular among those who don’t own the property in which they live.
It doesn’t cost a lot of money each month and it could cover you, your family, and your possessions in minor and major emergencies alike, so could renter’s insurance be something you need to consider? Let’s unpack what it is and what it covers to help you decide if it’s worth it.
Every renter should have and needs renters insurance. Renters insurance, which is also often known as personal property insurance, is essential for every renter no matter what your circumstance. Many renters forgo this coverage, and as a result, are putting themselves in financial jeopardy should something happen.
What is Renter’s Insurance?
Contrary to popular misconceptions, renter’s insurance doesn’t cover the property itself. Instead, it covers your stuff in the apartment/townhome/condo and other living expenses you might incur if there’s significant damage to your residence that renders it [temporarily] uninhabitable (such as flooding, fire damage, etc. requiring you to live in a hotel for a while).
Your landlord should have a separate insurance policy covering the actual property, but this isn’t your responsibility as a tenant, so you’re primarily responsible for protecting the cost of your own stuff and living expenses with renter’s insurance.
Why You Should Purchase Renters Insurance
Individuals should consider getting renters insurance to protect their property should something happen. A common misconception among renters is that the landlord will cover damage to their personal property if there was a disaster, like a fire or a flood. However, landlords do not cover the personal property of renters.
So, if there was a fire in your neighbor’s unit, and it spread to your unit, or the firefighters flooded your unit with their fire hoses, you would be out of luck when it came to replacing your stuff. The only thing that your landlord’s insurance would cover is the actual physical building structure. That is why getting renters insurance is so important.
What Renters Insurance Covers
Renters insurance is great because it covers a whole slew of things. First and foremost, it covers your personal property. It covers your personal property not just from damage but also from theft. It also protects your property anywhere. For example, if you had your laptop stolen from your college library while you were there, it would cover that as well.
Renter’s insurance typically covers the stuff in your apartment (furniture, electronics, décor, jewelry, collectibles, etc.) up to a certain amount. For instance, if you have a $4,000 couch that’s irreparably damaged by flooding and your insurance maxes out at $3,000 for the furniture category, then that’s what you’ll get back instead of the total cost of the damaged item (unless you purchase additional insurance for certain items). Note: many renter’s insurance policies also have deductibles you must meet before receiving a reimbursement check.
Alternatively, your renter’s insurance may be a “replacement cost value” policy, which means you’ll be reimbursed for the cost of repairing or replacing an item based on its current value. This could cost more money per month, but the main advantage to this type of renter’s insurance is you don’t have to worry about a depreciation gap between what you originally paid for an item and how much your insurance assessor says it’s worth now.
Renter’s insurance covers the cost of repairing/replacing damaged or stolen items (including personal electronics in many cases), as well as living costs associated with a temporarily uninhabitable residence (due to severe weather damage, vandalism, electrical blowouts, etc.). You’ll also receive coverage for personal liability, which pays for medical and/or legal bills incurred by someone injuring themselves in your home.
If someone was injured in your unit and tries to sue you, renters insurance usually provides some type of personal liability coverage also. Again, many renters falsely believe that they would be covered by their landlord’s policy. This simply is not the case. The only time a landlord’s policy will cover a lawsuit is when an accident happens in a public place on the property such as at the apartment complex’s pool.
What Isn’t Covered by Renter’s Insurance?
In many cases, damage from natural disasters like hurricanes, floods, fires and/or earthquakes will not be covered by your renter’s insurance unless you take out additional coverage specifically for these incidents. Additionally, if you own a dog that has bitten someone in the past, you may find it difficult to receive affordable renter’s insurance due to personal liability concerns.
What’s covered and what’s not depends on your type of renter’s insurance policy and how much you pay for any additional coverage. Nobody enjoys reading the fine print for anything, but a renter’s insurance policy may be worth reading thoroughly to ensure you understand exactly what and what isn’t covered before you ever need to file a claim.
How Much Coverage Do I Need?
Many landlords that require renter’s insurance set minimum amounts of coverage for their tenants (e.g., $50,000 personal liability coverage). If you’re not required to get renter’s insurance, it’s still useful to have at least $75,000 (preferably $100,000 or more) in coverage to financially safeguard yourself from any possible accident or damage occurring in your home.
For your stuff, it’s up to you to determine how much everything is worth (and be able to prove it if/when filing a claim). A single college student living in a studio apartment may have less than $10,000 worth of stuff, whereas a family of four in a condo may have $25,000 worth of stuff. It depends on a variety of factors, so take the time to accurately assess your coverage needs before taking out a renter’s insurance policy.
Understanding the Cost of Renters Insurance
The other great thing about renters insurance is the relatively low price. Depending on your coverage amount, your monthly premium could be as low as $4. Also, many renter insurance plans do not have a deductible, meaning that if you did need to file a claim, there are no out-of-pocket costs to pay prior to getting your items replaced.
Renter’s insurance is fairly affordable compared to other types of insurance plans. Many basic policies start at $10 or so per month and go up to $50 or more if you opt for additional coverage for things like high-priced electronics or natural disaster damage coverage. Your deductible will also determine how much you pay per month; high deductibles for $500+ will result in lower monthly costs, whereas $200 or fewer deductibles typically mean you’re paying more per month for the peace of mind that comes from knowing you’ll barely have to pay out of pocket in case something is damaged, lost or stolen.
It is always a smart idea to use a comparison engine to shop around before making any permanent decisions about your renter’s insurance. Some organizations, like AARP, offer excellent renters insurance that can provide numerous benefits. They can protect your belongings by providing cash reimbursements that accurately represent the monetary value of each item lost.
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There are a number of optional endorsements available as well, such as assisted living care coverage, green rebuilding, equipment protection advantage, and several more. Keep in mind that these benefits differ depending on the state you live in. Thankfully, you can go online and see what benefits you’re eligible for in a matter of minutes.
Renters insurance is far too cheap and covers too many of your personal possessions not to protect yourself. Do not be caught off guard without having insurance to protect your personal property from loss, damage, or theft. And, do not make the mistake of going unprotected from lawsuits. Every renter should have and should have renters insurance.
When I had just graduated college and rented my first place, I made a costly insurance mistake. It wasn’t the renters insurance mistake, though. I did have that (luckily never needed it). But the mistake was that I didn’t get rental insurance on my auto policy. When I got into an accident (not my fault, someone ran a stop sign) and my car took four weeks to replace, I was on the hook for the rental car. Oops. In other words, look at all of your insurance needs otherwise you’ll likely get burned!
Thanks for the reminder! I’ve been meaning to look into this–right now we don’t have it but we both want it. I’ll have to call later today!
Renter’s insurance is cheap and should be a no brainer. It is typically around a $100 per year. Most claims are for things you cannot control such as fire, theft or loss outside apartment.
I agree, it is cheap and it is a no brainer. But when a young person first moves out into their first rental property I wonder if they know that they need this. Do their parents remember to tell them?
Well said–renters insurance is REQUIRED at most places in NYC, and why not? It’s the cost of a subway sandwich and gives you incredible peace of mind-especially in a city where anything could happen.
Because so many youths grow up in small towns few are educated about renters insurance. Thanks for helping spread the word!
It makes sense only if the cost is extremely low like $100 per year. Regardless of the price, I wonder how many renters know this service exists.
That’s not true at all. It makes sense almost all the time. Your expected value of loss and break even point for the insurance (like all insurance) is the likelihood of you filing a claim multiplied by the potential loss. Even if the odds of you filing a claim are only 1% and a total loss is $100k which would make your expected loss from a fire, etc. $1,000, you have a lot of room in your premium payments above only $100 per year to make renters insurance a value added proposition if you wanted to look at it strictly from a finance perspective. And, that does not even consider the added value of peace of mind for you and your family that the insurance provides.
Renter’s Insurance is a must. It’s so cheap and not having it can end up costing you a lot.
Going to be totally necessary when I move into my bottom-floor duplex in L.A. My roommates and I are already splitting it
Thanks for the great overview on renters insurance. In my view renters insurance is a great investment for risk renters carry, many outside their control for things like theft and fire damage.
As a landlord, I agree that renter’s insurance is a must for renters. I recommend – no beg – my tenants to get it. And as others have said, it is very affordable.
My landlord requires it as part of our lease agreement.
I have been a renter for my whole life. I have never had it.
Wow, that’s just plain scary. To me, it is not worth the risk. $100k or so of coverage for $20 a month to protect my belongings from theft, fire, damage, etc. You may think that you and your family are very responsible, but what what is keeping the nut below you from burning the entire building down with all your worldly belongings in it?
As a landlord, I couldn’t agree more. Renter’s insurance would have covered a robbery once. Gives me peace of mind too.
It is important – although when I was renting it was not worth it for me (didn’t have enough assets to be worried about).
One of the great things about renter’s insurance is that it doesn’t cost very much. we can get decent coverage without c heaping out. Thanks for the great overview on renters insurance.