When renting a house, unit, or apartment, it’s important to consider removing or covering all personal belongings you have in place. Many people don’t think of this as a necessity because they think their landlord will have it covered. This is not the case. Your landlord will only purchase insurance to cover the property in the event of fire, flood, or property damage. This does not extend to your own possessions.
Depending on your policy, renters insurance can cover a variety of items, including:
o Destructive Fire and Smoke Damage – Although your landlord may have this covered for the building, how would you replace all of your items if they were destroyed by fire or smoke?
o Theft and damage to home contents – If someone breaks into your home, they could not only break many of your personal belongings, but also take them with them, leaving you saddled with high replacement costs.
o Flood or Water Loss – Most of the time, if your home is flooded, many items such as furniture, electrical equipment, and even clothing are ruined.
o Loss from Lightning and Swift Winds – If you experience a power shortage or surge from lightning and wind, it can short out electrical equipment that may need to be replaced.
Many renters only look at their big-ticket items like TVs and refrigerators for insurance, but there are many other things this type of cover can cover.
o Home furniture such as sofas, chairs, tables and desks
o Technology equipment such as computers, DVD players, stereos, iPods, cameras, and printers
o Clothing, shoes and jewelry
o Personal possessions such as sunglasses and hair dryers.
o Household contents, including kitchen appliances, cutlery, crockery, and glassware
Many insurers will ask, “If a burglar completely cleaned out your house, how much would it cost to replace everything?” They ask this question to get an idea of how much the policy should be worth.
In many cases, renters will often purchase additional insurance if they have expensive items that are of high value. These items often include expensive jewelry like engagement or wedding rings, fine art, and high-end electrical equipment like televisions and sound systems.
The amount you pay for your policy will be based on a variety of variables. These are often based on where you live, what type of security is used on the premises to stop trespassers, whether you have claimed before, how much excess you are willing to pay if you need to make a claim, and also how much you want to insure the contents of .
Tenants offer a great sense of security in addition to physical locks and alarms. This is because when all else fails and someone breaks into your home, you can be sure that a large financial burden will not be placed on you when it comes time to replace the items that were taken.