What is Tenant Insurance?

Tenant insurance, also known as renters’ insurance, is a policy designed specifically for renters. If you rent an apartment or house, tenant’s insurance is available to help you replace your belongings after a loss due to theft, fire, smoke, vandalism, hail, and some water damage. This coverage pays for extra costs to help you get back on your feet, including additional living expenses if your rental is uninhabitable. It also protects you if someone gets hurt or someone else’s property is damaged.

Why Tenant Insurance is Important?

The Landlord’s insurance does not cover renter’s belongings such as furniture, kitchen and other appliances, clothes etc. even if the damage occurs in the building. Tenant Insurance protects the renter’s personal property from events like fire, pipe bursts or backups. Without it, the renter’s will have to bear the loss or pay for the repairs for their personal belongings.

How does Tenant Insurance Work?

The main difference of this type of insurance policy is its focus on the tenant’s personal belongings and not the building or the property. Typically, most policies include $1 million in liability and $35,000 for contents. Renters, however, have the option to increase limits and add additional protection.

What does Tenant Insurance Cover?

While tenant insurance can vary between insurance providers, policies typically include the following types of coverage:

Personal Contents: This covers the cost to repair or replace, clothes and most household items. Even if you think your belongings have little value, the cost of replacing everything at once adds up.

Liability Coverage: As a tenant, you are legally responsible for any damage you cause to any part of your building and for unintentional harm caused to others who live in or visit the property. This provides coverage if a guest injures themselves in your unit, for example, and takes legal action against you.

Additional living expenses: If something happens (fire) and you cannot live in your rental unit while it is being repaired, where will you stay? What will you eat? This coverage pays, in certain circumstances, for any necessary expenses incurred while your apartment is being repaired. These include hotel bills, restaurant meals and moving costs. It is subject to specified limits.

Voluntary Medical Payments: This coverage pays reasonable medical expenses in the year after an accident if you unintentionally injure another person or if they are accidentally injured on your property – even though you are not legally liable.

Voluntary Property Damage: This pays what it would cost to repair or replace the property with materials of similar quality at the time of loss.

Optional Coverage: If necessary, you can add extra coverage to your policy for an additional premium. This includes, depending on the carrier, increased liability, water damage protection and more. You can also increase contents insurance.

How much does Tenant Insurance Cost?

Overall, policies are very affordable. On average, premiums in Winnipeg, for example, are approximately $250-$400 per year or roughly $25 to $35 per month. How much you will pay will depend on the size of the property you are renting and the value of your personal items.

How are premiums calculated?

The cost of tenant’s insurance depends on the amount of insurance you choose, where your apartment/house is located, how it was constructed, and the insurance provider you choose. The more you own, the more coverage you will need to replace those contents. Your history, including if you’ve made a claim in the past 10 years, also impacts your rate.