Tenants Insurance

If you own a home, then you know that you have to pay home owners insurance. Often times, if you didn't put enough money down on the house, then you'll be mandated to get a certain amount of coverage for your home. Whatever the case is, it is always a good idea to have your home's structure and your personal belongings insured in case something bad happens and stuff gets damaged or destroyed.

But, what if you are renting a house from someone? Are they obligated to insure the structure and your property?  Do you have to insure the structure and your property?  Or, is it split between the two?  I will help to answer some questions you may have about tenants insurance, and how it can help you (and your landlord) out.

Tenants insurance is something that the tenant has to get and pay for, in order to protect their own stuff.  The way that it works, is that the owner of the house probably has home owners insurance, but it is only to protect the actual physical structure of the building that you are living it.  It does not really protect anything in side that is yours.  That is your stuff and therefore it is your responsibility.  Since each tenant has different kinds of stuff, which could vary greatly in cost, it is up to the tenant, not the landlord, to provide insurance for their own stuff.

Some landlords will require contents insurance for tenants, but not all of them do.  Even if your landlord does not require it, it would still be a good idea to get your stuff insured with tenants contents insurance.

If you're considering buying tenant contents insurance, make sure you find out what the insurance actually covers so when something bad happens, it won't be worse because you didn't understand the stuff that your tenant insurance was supposed to cover.

Obviously each policy is different and you can get different coverages, but there are some things that are pretty standard when it comes to this type of insurance.  Here are a few of them:

• Damage from some weather elements such as hail, windstorm, explosions, fire, snow, ice and lightening.
• Theft and vandalism, riots, and explosions are other things that most cover.
• Electrical and water damage from house problems, as well as smoke damage.
• Falling objects and vehicles (which includes airplanes).
  

There are a lot of things that are on the above list that are covered, but if you look closely, you may realize that a few things that may be quite normal in some areas aren't covered on most policies.  Those things are damage caused by earthquakes, and damaged caused by floods and hurricanes.  Often times, thing types of coverages need to be purchased as an add on to your tenants content insurance.  Obviously, some areas are affected more by these types of natural disasters, and so if you live in such an area, then make sure that it is either covered by your existing policy, or look at getting it added on to your policy (for an additional fee).

When you start browsing around looking for tenants insurance prices, you can possibly see some pretty high prices.  With the economy being worse, and a lot of people out of jobs or trying to save up in case they lose their job, money can be tight.  While it will cost you some money, it is definitely important to still get tenants insurance to cover your valuables.

The best place to look for various prices and tenants insurance quotes is online.  You can find various comparison websites that will help you to be able to get many different price quotes at one time, so that you'll be able to compare more effectively, to see who covers what you need to have covered, and at a price you can afford.