Wonder whether you should get renters insurance and if it’s worth it? The truth is, a tenant insurance policy is the best way to cover the cost of your belongings and protect you from any liabilities associated with your rental.

Many tenants decide to skip renters insurance if their landlord does not require it. While it might feel like an unnecessary additional cost to your monthly bills, you could regret this decision later. This article briefly covers the basics of renters insurance, its cost, and if it’s legally required. Also, we will go through the points explaining why you should consider buying an insurance policy as a tenant.

Let’s start with a quick look at the definition of renters insurance. Also called tenant insurance, it helps renters cover additional financial costs they might incur if an unpredicted incident happens on their property or to their belongings. 

Some might think that their landlord’s policy should cover every accident, such as a flood or theft, but that’s not exactly correct. While landlord insurance covers the building or just the unit itself, it does not apply to tenants’ possessions. The only exception is when the landlord was responsible for the damage to your stuff. 

So, if someone breaks into your rental and steals most of your jewelry, clothes, and electronics, your only recourse would be renters insurance.

Usually, you might face this question when you rent your first apartment. The answer is, it depends, but it’s not required by the state or federal law. While more and more landlords or HOAs demand tenants to have insurance when they move into the building, it’s still not widespread common. So, in most cases, the choice of whether to purchase an insurance policy is yours. 

As we all know, life is truly unpredictable. The thing is, often, we find ourselves in situations when all the expenses snowball at the worst possible time. A person who just lost a job might face the need to move into a new rental, repair their car, and seek expensive medical help. 
 

We’re devoted advocates of getting renters insurance and strongly recommend every renter think about it before signing a lease for a new rental. You never know what might happen in life, and it’s always better to be safe than sorry. Following, you can find five reasons why renters insurance is necessary that hopefully will dispel any doubts.

Insurance price is a number one factor that can scare off many people. While the cost of expensive health insurance is mainly covered by an employer for over 50% of the nonelderly population in the US, no one will pay for your renters insurance.

In fact, standard renters insurance policy is pretty affordable. For example, if you buy tenant insurance on Joinimmo, prices start from as low as €‎8 per month. 

Obviously, there are many different providers and plans to choose from, and prices will vary throughout the Internet. That’s why anyone can find an insurance company and a plan that will work for them. 

We briefly mentioned this before, and this point is one of the main reasons why you absolutely need your own insurance. 

Standard renters insurance usually provides coverage for fire, theft or damage to personal property, explosions, water damage, and other accidents (not floods and earthquakes, though). And, you can expect coverage to extend to your appliances, furniture, clothing, and jewelry. However, you should remember that if you have particularly valuable pieces of jewelry or other precious items, you might have to purchase special coverage.

Liability coverage is another significant part of the standard renters insurance, and it pays for any property damage or bodily injuries that happen in your rental. If you have a crazy party and someone cuts themselves with a glass or slips on the stairs, your policy will pay for medical bills. Also, liability coverage can become especially beneficial for pet owners — if your dog bites your guest, tenant insurance will cover related expenses. 
 

One of the best parts of renters insurance is protecting your belongings even outside of your home. If someone steals your laptop in the coffee shop or while you’re on vacation, certain policies (but not all of them!) will cover it. Of course, there are certain limits to the maximum amount of coverage as well as the items tenant insurance will cover, so you should read the terms and agreement of your specific policy.

You might think that at the moment, you don’t have spare cash to pay a monthly premium, and it’s something that people with more money usually do. As a matter of fact, if you struggle with money, you should be the first to consider buying a renters insurance policy.

If some unfortunate situation such as a robbery, fire, or flood happens, you can find yourself feeling cornered. Having barely enough money for living expenses, it’s extremely difficult both financially and psychologically to cover the cost of all the losses. Instead, if you choose to pay a small amount every month for a renters insurance policy, you will feel more secure. And, in case of an incident, you will not be left alone to deal with an overwhelming amount of expenses. 

On the other hand, if you feel comfortable financially, you probably have some valuable personal belongings in your home. So, consider purchasing renters insurance to cover the costs of all these items anyway. We doubt you would want to spend thousands of dollars buying new furniture, appliances, or designer shoes.