Many tenants wonder if they should have renters insurance… I would never rent a home or allow my kids to rent a home without it! There are many reasons why you should have renters insurance but only one reason to not have it… cost! If you have never take the time to price a renters insurance policy you will probably discover the cost is much less than you thought.  In my experience the cost of a plan offering around $30,000 for coverage of personal belongings and $100,000 liability coverage would cost no more than about $25 per month. If you live in a house with a pool you should really consider a policy with $1,000,000 liability coverage which surprisingly isn’t that much higher priced.

Why you should have a renters insurance policy:

• Many tenants don’t realize that the homeowners insurance policy held by the owner of the property, in most cases, does not have any coverage for their personal property. Should there be a flood, or even worse, a fire, you could find yourself with no possessions and in most cases, no recourse.
• A tenant could have liability if someone is injured on the property. Imagine if you had friends helping you move into your new rental home and one of them is injured in the process, you could have a liability issue. There are thousands of reasons that a tenant could have liability, it isn’t limited to property owners.
• Your negligence, intentional or not, could cause a liability issue with the owner. A faulty power strip for your computer could spark and cause a fire. Your washing machine could flood while you aren’t at home. You notice a small roof leak but forget to call it in until the next big rain that causes severe ceiling damage. All of these examples could lead to damage to your personal property and open you up liability issues with the owner and their insurance company.

The list of reasons you should have renters insurance is endless and like all insurance, you will sure wish you had it when the wrong situation arises! A great place to start looking is your current insurance company. If you aren’t already receiving a multiple policy discount you could get a huge break on the already cheap cost.