When you rent a house, condo or apartment, you have special insurance needs.  While your landlord may have an insurance policy on the dwelling or apartment building, you’ll need to purchase your own insurance to protect your personal belongings and your personal liability.

A Tenant Policy is often referred to as “Renter’s Insurance”.  You will need to determine an approximate value of your belongings.  This value should reflect the cost of replacing your belongings with”new” items. Don’t underestimate the value of your personal effects – what would it cost to replace everything from your toothbrush to the leather couch?  To get started, you can develop an inventory of your possessions room by room.

All insurance policies have “special limits” on certain types of property and you should talk to us about items that you may have that are limited within your policy.  As well, some of your belongings such as motor vehicles, boats, a.t.v.’s and seasonal homes will probably need to be insured separately, so be sure to ask us about insuring them.  Insurance companies often have a minimum limit of $15,000 – $20,000 on belongings that the policy will insure.  Most policies have a $500 deductible that would be applied in the event of a claim.  For example, if you had a loss to your property, you would be responsible for the first $500 of that loss.

Your Tenant policy also includes “personal liability”.  The liability section of the policy will protect you in case you are found legally responsible for bodily injury or property damage to someone else.  For example, your landlord could sue you if a candle you left unattended caused a fire that damaged your apartment.

You may be able to reduce your premium with claims-free, age or security system discounts.