There’s no law stating you must have renters insurance, but your landlord could require it.
Renters Insurance protects your personal property if you rent an apartment or house. It also provides liability protection for the renter. It covers everything a standard homeowner’s policy would except for the actual building.
In this article, I’ll break down the different coverages and provide practical examples.
Renters insurance is also useful if you’re living with family or friends prior to buying or building a new home.
Some renter’s policies will even extend coverage to your storage unit. I know, bananas… #TheMoreYouKnow
What’s actually covered on a Renters Policy?
Personal Property
Your stuff. Everything you own inside your rental. Your policy should have an endorsement stating ‘Replacement Value on Contents”. This means, if the policy is replacing an item, they are giving you the cost to buy the item new, not the depreciated value of that item.
Loss of Use
This coverage will pay for you to live elsewhere if your rental is damaged due to a covered claim, like fire, water or wind.
This coverage could pay for hotel stays as well as any additional expenses like restaurant bills from not having a full kitchen.
Whenever you hear a nightmare story about renters not having a place to live after their apartment is destroyed due to fire, it’s usually because they didn’t have renters insurance.
Personal Liability
This protects you from a potential lawsuit if a guest slips and falls down steps while visiting you. This coverage could also extend away from your home during certain circumstances. It’s very valuable.
Med Pay
An example where Med Pay helps is when a guest slips and falls on your stairs. They’re not hurt bad enough to sue, but bad enough to receive a medical bill. You can use Med Pay to reimburse your guest for that bill. Like any coverage on insurance, the policy is only covers you up to the limit of insurance on each coverage.
Endorsements we like to add to a Renters Policy
Water Back-up
This coverage will replace personal property damaged by water flowing back up through drains in the kitchen or bathroom.
Equipment Breakdown
This coverage will repair or replace electronics fried during a power surge. Use this to protect TV’s, tablets, computers, kitchen appliances, washer/dryer, etc.
Jewelry
You can schedule specific items to be insured on your renters policy, like an engagement or wedding ring and even family heirlooms.
You can schedule personal items of value for almost every situation you can think of…even “mysterious disappearances.”
Many personal items of value can be scheduled to provide coverage for almost every situation you can think of, even “mysterious disappearance”… spooky.
Wrapping Up
Renter’s insurance is very affordable.
On average, a renter’s policy in NJ with proper coverage – including endorsements and a scheduled engagement ring – will run you $200-300/year.
If you’re renting a place, it’s important to have this kind of protection. Even though landlords are responsible for things like plumbing and heating issues, they don’t always take care of everything.
That’s why we recommend getting renters insurance so you’re covered when something goes wrong.
Call or email me today to get a quote or ask any questions.
– Frank Zahn, CIC
Call: 732.566.0003 • Email: [email protected]