Do Rental Properties Need Extra Insurance?

Many people are aware of the thing called homeowners insurance. House owners purchase this insurance policy to protect the house and its properties.

While homeowners insurance is widely known worldwide, renters insurance is not. Almost every homeowner today has homeowners insurance. But how about people who live in rented homes? Do they still need insurance for their rented house? After all, they don’t own the place.  Before answering these questions, let’s look at what renters insurance entails. 

Renters Insurance

Renters insurance and homeowners insurance are similar in almost every way. They both provide coverage for your properties but in different situations. For the latter, the insurance policy recipient owns the property they live in. On the other hand, recipients of renters insurance do not own the property they live in; instead, they opt for rentals. 

According to research, the average tenant in the United States possesses properties worth more than $20,000. How then are these properties protected?

You do not have to own property before protecting your valuables with insurance. Like homeowners insurance, renters insurance also covers property damage caused by fire and vandalism. 

Many homeowners insurance policies also tend to cover collectibles and costly things. On the other hand, renters will only cover damages. If you possess expensive things, you might try covering those items on a different insurance policy. Some incidents considered “acts of God” like earthquakes and flooding are not automatically covered by renters insurance, which means you might not find them in the agreement. While some renter’s insurance covers these incidents, most don’t. 

What Renters Insurance Covers

Personal Things

Renters insurance will cover the contents of your rented house. Renters’ insurance will cover these damages when these items are damaged by dangers like electrical malfunctions, plumbing malfunctions, vandalism, fire, theft, certain weather-related damage, and other accidents. However, it is important to know that renters insurance will not cover earthquakes and floods. 

Additional Living Expenses

Your insurance company can offer you money to cover temporary housing when your rented dwelling has been damaged by the perils listed above and becomes inhabitable. The money offered will help you with restaurant meals, hotel bills, and temporary rentals. During this process, your house is being repaired. 

Liability

For cases of sustenance of injuries by visitors at your place, renters insurance will help protect you when you’re sued for these injuries and damages. Expenses gotten from legal and court proceedings are covered for you, and these bills could be as much as $300,000!

What Doesn’t Renters Insurance Cover?

If you possess very expensive items like jewelry, musical instruments, collectibles, and high-end appliances, your renters’ insurance will not cover them. It would help if you considered getting a bigger policy like floater insurance to get coverage. 

When renting a house, know that the insurance purchased by the landlord is not sufficient in helping to protect your properties, so you should get renters insurance. 

Not owning a home doesn’t mean you cannot protect your belongings.