If you rent the place you live in, whether it is an apartment, condo, house or some other type of building, you need to have renters insurance (sometimes called HO-4 insurance). The property owner of the building or your landowner should have insurance on the dwelling itself.
As a renter it is your responsibility to insure your personal belongings. Renter’s insurance can also provide you with liability protection and pay for living expenses if there is some sort of disaster that would temporarily dislocate you from the rental property.
Your personal possessions are anything that belong to you such as clothes, furniture, electronics and other items that you have personally brought into the home. You are the one who is responsible to insure them against theft and damage. If bought and brought a home appliance into your rental home like a washer and dryer, then it is your responsibility to cover them under your rental insurance as well. You are responsible for insuring everything in the house that belongs to you, no matter who causes the loss.
You may also be responsible for liability insurance. You are generally responsible for most of the upkeep on the rental property, including making sure that walkways and sidewalks are cleared of snow, ice and debris. Unless your landlord is specifically responsible for the upkeep, you need to make sure you have liability coverage. If someone were to slip and fall on ice that is on the walkway in front of your rental home and your are responsibility for keeping them clear, then you are at fault and you are the one who could be sued for damages. This is why it is important to have liability insurance. So these are the things that you are responsible for insuring. Now we can discuss what you are not responsible insuring.
It is not your responsibility to insure the actual rental building (dwelling) or any appliances or furnishings that belong to your landlord. Those are your landlord’s responsibility to insure.
Renters insurance usually covers 17 kinds of incidences or peril: theft, vandalism, lightning or fire, hail or windstorm, riot, explosion, vehicles, aircraft, malicious theft, safety glazing material or glass damage, falling objects, volcanic eruption, and ice, snow or sleet weight. These perils or incidences cover damages that occur to your personal property and liabilities.
You should consult with your insurance agent to make sure your understand just what is covered and what isn’t under your renters insurance. You will need to compile a comprehensive list of your belongings so that your insurance company can cover all of your belongings adequately and charge you the appropriate rate. If you have any expensive belongings like paintings, antiques or jewelry, you need to inform your insurance policy. there are times when certain expensive belongings are not covered under a basic renters insurance policy. If this is the case you will need to take out a separate policy to cover these items.
Another important thing that you should ask your insurance agent about is whether your renters policy pays out on replacement value or actual cash value on your personal belongings if you were ever to need to file an insurance claim. Replacement value will give you a payment at current costs, Actual cash value is based on depreciated value, so you might not get reimbursed enough to replace your belongings with new ones.
