Just like how homeowners insurance is a necessity to a homeowner, renters insurance is becoming more and more of a necessity to someone renting. But in 2014 only 37 percent of renters had renters insurance and some may say this is because many renters do not understand the importance of renters insurance.

Renters insurance is property insurance that covers the renter’s belongings, liabilities, as well as possible living expenses. Renter’s insurance is available to those who are renting or subletting a single family home, an apartment, duplex, condo, studio, loft, or townhouse. The biggest part of renters insurance is protecting against the loss of the renter’s personal belongings on the rented property. 

It is becoming increasingly more popular for landlords to require proof of renters insurance from the renter since personal belongings normally do not fall under the landlord’s property insurance. For example, if a flood or fire were to happen on the rented property, the structure of the rented property would be covered under the landlord’s property insurance, but any personal belongings of the renter would not. This would leave the renter to pay out of pocket for any loss to their personal belongings if they did not have renters insurance.

With renters insurance, you will get 3 different types of financial protection:

• Coverage of personal belongings
• Liability protection - injuries that occur on the rented property that are not due to structural problems
• Additional living expense protection

Additional living expense protection is protection that helps cover costs of the renter if they were to be displaced from the rented property for some reason. Reasons can include flood, fire, and any other reason the place may become uninhabitable. Additional living expense protection can help pay for a hotel, meals, storage costs, and other moving or displacement costs. Many people may not think they could be displaced from their rental property, but it could happen to anyone at any time.

How much should you get?

It is a good rule of thumb to buy enough renters insurance to replace all of your personal belongings if something were to happen. You can easily figure out how much this would be by creating a detailed list of your belongings with an estimated total value.

When it comes to choosing your renters insurance, you can choose between replacement cost or actual cash value coverage: 

• Replacement cost will provide enough money to replace your old items with new ones at the current retail price
• Actual cash value will provide enough money to replace your old items based on their worth at the time they were damaged or destroyed

Paying out of pocket? No way!

It is very important to get renters insurance if you are renting or subletting a property, as renters insurance will save you from paying out of pocket to replace your belongings or pay for living expenses if you are displaced from the property. 

Looking to get renters insurance? You can rely on Small & Son Inc. Insurance to get you the proper renters insurance at the most competitive price. Call us today at (570) 421-0111 to contact our friendly and professional insurance agents for a personal quotation!