Renters Insurance Question

[Chris Lawrence]

Good Morning!

I require my tenants to get renters insurance when signing the initial lease and moving in. I have a tenant that is still living in my rental property, but I just received a notification in the mail that my tenant has yet to renew the renters insurance for another year. This is a good tenant that pays on time. Wondering if I should enforce this policy and say that you need to renew the renters policy or sign off on a waive stating that they are opting out of renters insurance. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Chris

[Nathan Gesner]

@Chris Lawrence this is the problem with renters insurance, particularly as you scale to more units. The amount of time and effort required to enforce it becomes staggering. And are you really going to kick out a good tenant just because they don't have a $15 insurance policy? If they decide to fight it, will you take them to court? And if you do, what do you think the judge is going to do?

You've now put yourself in a precarious situation. If you let them stay, it shows that you don't intend to enforce every clause of your lease and may give them the impression other terms are unenforceable. For this reason, we strongly recommend renters insurance but do not mandate it.