Do I Really Need Tenant Insurance?

The short answer is yes. There are a few really good reasons for having tenant insurance.

For one, as a tenant you are liable – yes, legally responsible – for any harm you cause to any part of your building and to others who live or visit there. Yikes! If your faulty toaster oven starts a fire that damages not only your apartment, but also the entire complex, you may have to pay out a lot of money.

You could even find yourself in trouble if your party guests get out of hand and cause damage.

Then there are your possessions. You might not think that you have much of real value, but what if you had to replace them all at once, due to fire or water damage?

Replacing your clothing, alone, could run you a few thousand dollars.

And that old couch and bed might not look like much, but buying new ones would be hard on the wallet.

When you consider what it would cost to replace everything, monthly insurance premiums may look pretty good by comparison.

One more thing you might want to think about: Talk to your insurance representative about getting an insurance policy that will pay for the full cost to replace what you’ve lost. The alternative is a settlement based on how much your old stuff was actually worth, given that it was old.