The Importance of Renter's Insurance

It’s important to require renters insurance from each of your tenants because you can’t control what happens in and around your rental units. There will be times when damage to personal property occurs that will not be covered by your policy and renters will appreciate you having the wherewithal to suggest insurance coverage before something happens.

For example, a pipe breaks in the kitchen while no one is home and causes water damage. Your insurance would cover damage to the unit itself but would not cover personal property of the renter, including furniture, rugs and personal appliances.

On the liability side, you want to make sure renters have a policy at a preset minimum per unit. You might require each tenant to carry $500,000 per occurrence in liability. Unfortunately, we live in a litigious society and double layers of coverage always help. For example, a renter has guests in their unit and the guest falls and hurts themselves. The liability happened in a unit but with coverage from your tenant and you, out of pocket expense for damages and litigation would be limited.