If you rent rather than own your home, do you really need insurance? As a matter of fact, you do, and maybe even more so.
Renters may be more at risk than homeowners as they often think they are covered by the landlord’s policy and ignore purchasing their own renters insurance coverage. You should know that insurance policies covering a multifamily property do not cover the renters’ personal possessions, items like clothing, electronic appliances, furniture, and so on. In case of a fire for example, the building itself may be sheltered under a solid protection plan but renters may have to pay out of their own pockets for everything they lost and start over. Which is never an easy task.
Surprisingly, only 35 percent have renters insurance, according to a 2013 report released by the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.), while the number of rental households entering the market is in a continuous climb. However, the good news is that this proportion has been increasing since the first time the question was asked in 2011, when 29 percent of renters said they had renters insurance.
“One of the biggest insurance problems after Sandy was the large number of renters who did not have coverage for their homes,” said Jeanne M. Salvatore, the I.I.I.’s consumer spokesperson and senior vice president, in a statement. “It can be extremely expensive to have to re-buy the entire contents of your home, so a renter’s insurance policy provides very important financial protection when there is a hurricane or other covered disaster.”
Depending of the value of your possessions, you can acquire renter’s insurance from Resident Shield for less than $16 per month.
In addition to providing protection in case of mishaps and natural calamities, rental insurance also pays for what is called additional living expenses (ALE); if your apartment is temporarily uninhabitable due to a covered loss, fire, smoke or other major structural damages, the policy will provide you with living expenses over and above your normal living expenses while the unit is being repaired. ALE usually reimburses accommodation bills for hotels or temporary rentals, restaurant meals and other expenses that emerge from your being relocated.
