If you are renting then it is a very good idea to purchase renters insurance. Your landlord’s insurance policies will not cover the replacement of your stuff if a fire occurs. This could leave you with absolutely nothing, and no financial assistance to replace it. Unfortunately, this sad situation happens all the time.
Renters insurance coverage provides people with some financial protection in case something bad happens. For example, if a fire burns down your apartment building, it is your renters insurance policy that will help you to replace some of your damaged property. If someone breaks into your apartment, and steals your computer, you would send the claim to the company you got renters insurance from.
People tend to want to believe that their landlord’s insurance policies will cover claims of damages to the renters personal possessions after a fire has occurred. Sadly, this is far from the truth. A landlord should have insurance on the building, or on the property the building sits on. This won’t cover anything except the damage done to the actual structures.
Obviously, renters insurance isn’t free. It is going to cost money for a person to purchase, and to keep. This is probably the biggest reason why people don’t bother to buy renters insurance. If your paycheck barely covers groceries and rent, it can seem impossible to come up with extra money to buy insurance with. Other people believe that they don’t have anything of value, so what would be the point of paying to have it covered by renters insurance?
Every so often, I will read an article in my local newspaper about a fire that has burned down an apartment building. A recent article talked about a fire that happened in an apartment complex in a town not far from where I live. Residents fled in a panic. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured, and no one died. One resident was able to locate her cat at a local veterinarian’s office after the fire had been put out.
The tragedy here is that these people are left with almost nothing. The apartment they rented is gone. Around 20 people were displaced. Firefighters placed small piles of potentially salvageable items into separate piles, one for each of the apartments that were affected. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.
At least one of the residents lamented that she did not have renters insurance. Fortunately, there are people who have been donating clothing and other items to the people who are now homeless. The owners of the complex have refunded a month’s rent and their insurance deposit, which is extremely nice of them to do. Few landlords will do that.
Image by Amanda Govaert on Flickr