The importance of having tenant insurance
You have just moved out of the family home or are new to the province, or even country. But just because you do not see a need for insurance doesn’t mean you should ignore the subject. The usual objection to purchasing an insurance policy is the perception that you don’t really have any contents that are worth insuring. This may seem to be a reasonable argument but tenant insurance is more than just coverage for your contents.
A tenant or renter’s policy includes several important points of coverage.
One of the most important coverages is liability, which is automatically included with your policy. If something goes wrong and you were found to be responsible for the loss, then you may be found legally liable for the resulting damages. Your insurance policy could protect you against a lawsuit. This may not seem like a big deal because you rent a basement suite, but if you rented a suite in an apartment building and caused a fire , then every other person living in the building could sue you for their losses as well as the landlord/owner of the building. Similarly, if you let water escape from your unit into adjoining suites, you could be responsible for the damages. Depending on how many suites were damaged, the costs could be significant.
Liability insurance also protects you against claims of bodily injury if you were found to be responsible in causing someone to be hurt. This coverage extends to off-premise situations too where you may be involved directly or indirectly.
Getting back to contents, you would be surprised at how quickly the value of your belongings adds up. Even a modest pair of shoes can approach $100 and when you throw in a few other articles of clothing you can easily reach $300 or more – and that’s just one outfit. Don’t forget that your contents are insured on a replacement costs basis which means there is no depreciation. It’s new for old essentially.
Another important piece of coverage that’s included is additional living expenses. We often hear of a person or family that got burned out of their rental place and had no place to go. If they had a tenant policy in place, their normal living expenses would be covered while their place was being repaired or they moved elsewhere. This amount varies according to how much content insurance is in place but it is certainly is crucial in getting back to normal situation.
What does a policy cost? Depending on where you live and how much coverage is required, a tenant policy can cost less than your daily cup of coffee! Contact us for more information.
