Is renter’s insurance required?

No renter’s insurance is not required. It is not like car insurance which is required by law. But most leases state that it is highly recommended.

I will be the first to admit that when I rented, I didn’t have renter’s insurance most of the time. Sure renter’s insurance is pretty cheap, but to a person just getting started and who owns pretty much nothing, saving that money went a long way to buying beer and other more important items when you are young. Heck it was tough enough just to pay the rent some months, let alone pay for something that I didn’t understand.

But as I got older and started to buy nicer electronics, the renter’s insurance started to make more sense. I finally bought it after my friend told me her story.

My friend in Kansas City came home to her apartment one day to see that see couldn’t get to it because it was surrounded by firetrucks.

My friends apartment was totally destroyed by another tenant smoking in bed. All her stuff was gone or useless. She did not have any renter’s insurance.

Luckly the person responible for the fire had renters insurance which helped replace most of her stuff. If the person who started the fire didn’t have insurance then that person could have been liable for all the personal property damage. There will be insurance that covers the building but not your personal property inside.

So if you are thinking of not getting the insurance, think what would happen if you were the one that started the fire and didn’t have insurance. Let say you burned down 5 units before the firetrucks got there, each person has $25K worth of personal stuff, that would be $125K that you might be liable for.

The insurance would cover a lawsuit if you burned down a building by smoking because the insurance carrier for the building owner would sue the cause of the fire as well.

Insurance also covers in the event you have a pet (dog especially) and if the dog bites someone, those medical expenses are easier to cover.

Also, depending on the parents coverage, a student may be covered by their parents coverage (check with insurance company) up to a point.