If you are currently renting your home, take a look around you. Perhaps you are sitting in your living room with your brand-new flat-screen TV, and a state-of-the-art stereo system that set you back a couple thousand dollars . Then look over to your dining room where you keep your china cabinet and your grand piano. Upstairs your bedroom closet is filled with designer shoes and dresses, and your jewelry box contains diamond rings, earrings and bracelets.
Most people’s belongings are worth more than they think because they don’t think of them in terms of cash value. However, if these assets were to be damaged in a fire or stolen, would your budget affordably allow you to replace them? If you don’t have renter’s insurance, you are on your own to restore what you have lost.
With a renter’s insurance policy, you can protect your personal property against fire, smoke, theft, vandalism, and even certain natural disasters. Renter’s insurance will even cover your personal possessions when they aren’t in your home or apartment at the time of loss or damage.
Think that your landlord’s insurance policy will cover your possessions in the case of an unforeseen disaster or theft? Think again. Your landlord’s policy strictly provides coverage for the building and its structure, not for the tenant’s belongings. Without rental insurance, the value of your items is unprotected.
So you’ve had an electrical fire, and your landlord feels that it is due to your own negligence. A renter’s insurance policy can offer improvement coverage that will replace or restore damaged property. This protects you from the landlord going after you for the cost to fix the damages. Plus, if the fire has out your home in an unlivable condition, renter’s insurance can cover the cost of a temporary residence until you can move back in.
Another thing that renter’s insurance will protect you against is liabilities. What does that mean? Imagine that a girl scout rings your doorbell to sell cookies and comes in for a glass of water. While walking to the kitchen, she trips over the cord to the vacuum cleaner that you haven’t put away yet. She breaks her wrist, and her parents are so upset that they decide to sue you.
Guess what? The injury occurred inside your home and the cost for you to hire a lawyer for defense, court costs and her medical expenses are all covered. That’s right, renter’s insurance provides personal liability protection for injury to another person if an incident occurs within your rented residence. In today’s sue-happy world, what a relief it is to know that you don’t have to worry about lawsuits stemming from accidental injuries in your home.
It really is an unsettling feeling not to have rental coverage, especially when light is shed on the affordability of renter’s insurance. Usually the cost to provide enough coverage to replace your high-value items like furniture, computers, exercise equipment, musical instruments and more is only between $12 and $30 a month. Given the reasonable premiums and the peace of mind that you’ll get from renter’s insurance coverage, you should realize that renter’s insurance is something you can’t afford to live without.