What Is Renters Insurance And Why Is It Important?
An insurance option that’s commonly used in recent years comes in the form of renters insurance. Having a way to protect yourself from all kinds of inherent costs can help quite a bit, especially when you rent your property or when you are away from it for a while.
Thankfully, there are different ways to tackle these situations, and addressing those can indeed help more than you might expect. Here’s what you want to focus on when it comes to renters insurance.
What is renters insurance?
Simply put, renters insurance is covering personal belongings in case you are dealing with various disasters. That would include stuff like fire, theft or even situations when someone sues you. The reason why it’s called renters insurance is because it’s similar to homeowners insurance, but it’s made for people that rent a property at this time.
When you are a tenant and live in someone else’s house, a lot of issues can appear. As we said, disasters, fires, all of those will make you liable for the damages. Since you are the one living there, after all. If you encounter this type of problem, renters insurance is the way to go. The average cost for renters insurance is $148 per year. That means it’s not very expensive. However, it can protect you in case things are going wrong and you need to figure out a way to solve any issues here.
What is covered by renters insurance?
Upon choosing any type of insurance, you want to know what it covers and if it’s a good option for you or not. In most cases, renters insurance is actually a great option, and it might actually give you a tremendous return. With that in mind, here’s what gets covered by renters insurance and some stuff that won’t be covered.
Generally, renters insurance will have 4 types of coverage:
- Personal property coverage will focus on electronics, furniture, clothing and personal belongings.
- Medical payments included in renters insurance will cover injuries to other people found in your home.
- Liability will pay out if you are responsible for the injuries caused to other people.
- Loss of use will pay for expenses like restaurant meals, hotel stays and other things that you have to cover when the property gets repaired.
Is renters insurance necessary?
That will always depend on whether you are renting a property, how much time you plan to stay there and so on. That’s why you always want to make sure you invest in the best renters insurance solutions available. It’s a great idea to take your time and ensure that you have the best possible approach when choosing any type of insurance.
What you need to note is that renters insurance also has optional coverage. Aside from the 4 options shown above, there are some other things you can opt for, which could be incredibly helpful.
- Water backup coverage can help if the drain backs up and water starts gushing into the apartment.
- Scheduled personal property policies can be added here as well. These can include other things, which vary from electronics to firearms, jewelry and so on. It’s something that you can add if you already capped the total amount, and you want a better option for the most part.
- Replacement cost coverage applies when you want to replace the belongings based on their actual value in cash. It’s a nifty approach to have, and for a lot of people, it can prove to be very beneficial.
- Pet damage liability is another option that you can have for your renters insurance. The idea here is that if your pet gets destructive and it damages the carpet or sofa, among others, you have to cover that damage. But in this case, you have the insurance option taking care of everything, which is great.
- Identity theft coverage is another, good thing to add here. These days, all of us are prone to our identity getting stolen. It’s happening to many people in the US and worldwide. But how can this coverage help? It helps you coverage any expenses related to identity theft. That means, if someone steals your identity and you have to cover legal fees, credit monitoring services or replacing your documents, this insurance will help quite a bit.
Closing thoughts
There’s no denying that renters insurance can be very good for someone renting a property. It’s always a very good idea to make the most out of renters insurance and ensure that you are getting the best possible results. With that in mind, you want to avoid any rush, and you can prevent any unwanted situations. Rest assured that renters insurance can prove to be very beneficial, especially if you want to avoid unnecessary costs when something gets destroyed. As a tenant, the last thing you want is to pay a lot of money for repairs. Thankfully, renters insurance can be a great option, and well worth checking out!