Renters Insurance

[Steve Rozenberg]

Is Renters Insurance A Requirement For Your Tenants?

[Gary Lamach II]

It is for me.  I either make the tenant get it themselves, or have my insurance company issue a policy and add it to the rent.  When they have renters insurance it makes life so much easier if there's ever an issue.   

[Anthony Nici]

Make sure you are also on the policy as additionally insured, incase of damage to the house.

[Percy N.]

And if I could add, how much coverage do landlords require?

[Linda Liberatore]

More and more of our small investors are beginning to implement a process to require renters insurance with each new lease and renewal.  They are seeing a positive impact of more incentives when negotiating new premiums on the primary  policy. 

[Eric H.]

There are 4 reasons to require tenants to get renter's policies.

1) Liability, if your tenant is legally responsible for anyone's financial loss (injury, slander, property damage, etc) AND they do not have means, YOU may be pursued as additionally liable. 

2) Structure Coverage, your property improvements if damaged beyond wear and tear by your tenant may be covered by your tenant's liability coverage instead of your dwelling coverage.

3) Contents Coverage, not all Landlord policies are the same in the provision of contents coverage for tenants. Some landlord policies do provide limited coverage but it's not a great plan for YOU to provide coverage for them. If the tenant has contents that suffer loss because of a peril your policy pays for (think water backup that damages your floors and the tenants electronics or food spoilage due to power outage). If that tenant has a renters policy they will file and be reimbursed by their policy. If they don't have a renters policy they may or may not be able to collect from your Landlord policy or if they are bright from your Personal Liability coverage.

4) A person who has a problem getting renters insurance is a red flag. They may have a history of misrepresentation, excessive claims, or non payment. 

[Bryan O.]

@Anthony Nici

As the owner/manager, you should be listed as additional interest, not additional insured. I thought I had written a thread about it, but couldn't find one. It's discussed pretty heavily on BP here. Here is an article I found that describes the problem pretty well. They sound the same, and in auto insurance the terms seem to be used the same, but it is very different in rental property.

[Anthony Nici]

@Bryan O.

you are correct! My mistake.. Thank you, Bryan.

[Dick Rosen]

Yes we require Renters Insurance with me listed as additional insured or we charge them for a liability policy that we put in place for them which only covers our property not theirs.