What Is Renters Liability Insurance?

Renters liability insurance covers basic property damage if you're renting a home.
Written by Cheryl Knight
Reviewed by Carrie Adkins
Basically, renter's insurance is homeowner's insurance for a house that you technically don't own.
When you own a home, you have to get a homeowner’s insurance policy to provide coverage for your dwelling and belongings. Homeowner’s insurance pays to repair damage to your home and to replace belongings lost in a covered incident.
But what do you do if you rent an apartment? Insurance companies offer
renter’s liability insurance
for just this purpose. Here's what you need to know about this type of insurance, with a little help from
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comparison and broker app
Jerry
.
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What is renter’s insurance?

If you rent an apartment or home, you should consider getting renter’s insurance to provide coverage for your personal property. In addition, renter’s insurance can provide some protection if a guest is accidentally injured in your home.

Why do I need renter's insurance?

Some landlords even require their tenants to carry renter’s insurance to transfer the responsibility for the tenant’s personal belongings to the tenants and not themselves. On the other hand, some local governments prohibit landlords from requiring tenants to get renter’s insurance. It's best to check and see what the laws are in your local area before proceeding.
It's always best to protect your assets whether you own or rent them. In many cases, a landlord is not responsible for any of your damaged or stolen personal property items or if someone is injured while in your home. When buying renter’s insurance, you need to know exactly what the coverage is.
MORE: What is liability insurance?

How much does renter's insurance cost?

On average, a renter’s insurance policy costs around $15 a month, or $180 a year. That is not a whole lot of money for some simple piece of mind.
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What are the different types of renter's insurance?

Personal property

First and foremost, renter’s insurance protects your personal property if it’s damaged or stolen. Some common items that renter’s insurance replaces include:
  • Clothing
  • Electronics
  • Art and jewelry (although these items might require additional insurance depending on their value)
  • Furniture
  • Computers
  • Appliances
  • Personal belongings
Remember that your
renter’s insurance policy
only protects your personal property against listed perils. The perils that renter’s insurance usually covers include:
  • Fire, lightning
  • Windstorms, hail
  • Explosions
  • Riots
  • Damage by aircraft or vehicle (not your own)
  • Smoke damage
  • Vandalism
  • Theft
  • Volcanic eruption
  • Falling objects
  • Weight of snow, ice, sleet
  • Damage from steam-heating/water-heating appliances/systems
  • Leakage or overflow of water or steam
  • Freezing of plumbing, heating, air conditioning
  • Short-circuit damage caused by electrical appliances

Liability

The liability part of renter’s insurance can come into play in two different ways. With the first, the renter’s insurance will pay for any damages caused by your negligence as the renter. This includes inadvertently starting a fire or similar damage that happens as a result of an action you take.
So, if your landlord has to take you to court to recover the money they paid out to repair the apartment, your renter’s insurance will pay for this as long as the damage is from a covered peril.
The second area that renter’s liability insurance provides coverage for is when someone is injured in your apartment. This is only for injuries sustained due to negligence on your part. If someone gets hurt because of the landlord’s negligence, a faulty step on the stairs that the landlord was supposed to fix, for example, then the landlord’s insurance is liable.

Loss of use

If your apartment or rented home is damaged by a covered peril and you have to move out while it’s repaired, your renter’s insurance should pay for a hotel. Most renter’s insurance policies pay for the shortest amount of time as possible in these cases. As soon as your home is livable again, your renter’s insurance will stop paying for a hotel and other expenses.

Third party property damage

You renter’s insurance should also pay if your actions accidentally damage another renter’s property. This could be in the form of an overflowing tub damaging the apartment below, a fire causing damage to another neighbor’s property, or even if your kids hit a baseball through someone’s window.

Getting the best deal

Renter's insurance is already relatively cheap. But it could be even more affordable if you elect to bundle home and
car insurance
with
Jerry
. A licensed broker, Jerry does all the hard work of finding cheap quotes from the top name-brand insurance companies and buying new car insurance. Jerry will even help you cancel your old policy.
And to ensure you always have the lowest rate, Jerry will send you new quotes every time your policy comes up for renewal, so you’re always getting the coverage you want at the best price.
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