Why require tenant to have renters insurance?

[Josh Miller]

Curious as to why you should or should not require tenant to have a renters insurance policy? What is the benefit to the landlord?

[Jason Bott]

Originally posted by @Josh Miller:

Curious as to why you should or should not require tenant to have a renters insurance policy? What is the benefit to the landlord?

 Josh, it simply moves some risk off of the landlord and onto the tenants Renters Insurance policy.

I just had a client where the tenant had a large kitchen fire.  The tenants Renters insurance covered the claim for $160,000, keeping this claim off of the landlords policy. 

If this claim would have been on his portfolio policy, he may have seen a premium increase over the next few years.