How is renters insurance different from homeowners insurance

If you rent an apartment or home, you might not be thinking about insurance. After all, you don’t own the building and your landlord may have insurance in case something happens. But if your living room is damaged in a fire, your landlord’s policy likely won’t cover your brand new laptop or your vintage vinyl record collection.

Renters insurance helps protect your personal property inside your apartment — your electronics, furniture and clothing — unlike a homeowners policy that generally covers the building as well as what’s inside. In insurance speak, protection for your personal property is also known as “contents coverage.” And, as a renter, if you invest in updating items such as built-in appliances or bathroom fixtures, you may be able to apply a percentage of your contents coverage to repair or replace what has been damaged.

Renters insurance can also protect your personal possessions from theft, fire, vandalism and other hazards, both at home and anywhere in the world. So if there’s a theft at the hotel you’re staying at while on vacation, your renters insurance may help you replace your stuff the same way it would if your things were stolen from your apartment.

Protecting You, Along with What’s Inside Your Apartment

It’s not just your possessions that renters insurance coverage can help protect. It can also help protect you. In case a claim is brought against you or you are sued by a third party, your renters personal liability coverage can help to cover the legal costs and related damages. Many renters policies provide a minimum of $100,000 of financial protection that may help if someone claims injuries or damages while in your apartment, or caused by your personal activities or those of your household members.

For example, if you are found legally responsible for accidental fire damage to the building where you live, liability coverage in a renters insurance policy may provide financial protection. This liability protection may also extend to any vacation property that you rent.

Like homeowners insurance, renters insurance can pay for necessary additional living expenses if you are unable to live in your apartment due to a fire or other loss that your insurance policy covers. You can also opt to purchase additional coverage for your valuable possessions that might have limited coverage in a typical policy, such as jewelry, fine art or silver.

Things to Know About Renters and Landlord Insurance

So, while your landlord’s insurance policy may protect the building itself in which you live, it likely doesn’t cover anything inside your apartment that belongs to you. A renters insurance policy can help give you peace of mind that you — and your stuff — have protection from unexpected events, both at home and wherever your travels take you.

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• Can you have homeowners insurance and renters insurance?

I never had renters insurance when I still lived in an apartment. Now that I bought a home and moved in last month, is there any value in getting renters insurance too? Can you have homeowners insurance and renters insurance at the same time?

First off, congratulations on buying your new home! That’s an exciting experience, and we hope you had plenty of time to celebrate it properly!

You can have home and renters insurance at the same time, but adding renters insurance usually doesn’t benefit you unless you own a home and rent an apartment at the same time.

For instance, if you travel a lot for work and rent an apartment or your daughter is in college and you’re paying her bills, you’d want to have both policies.

Homeowners insurance and renters insurance are similar in that both protect your belongings in the event of unforeseen events, like fires or burglaries. They also provide legal liability protection if someone is injured on your premises.

The key difference is that renters insurance doesn’t cover the structure of the building itself. That’s the responsibility of the landlord, not a tenant.

Whether you need homeowners insurance or renters insurance, consider using Jerry to save time and money on your coverage. Simply download the app and answer a handful of questions, and Jerry will find you dozens of quotes to compare.

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Jerry partners with more than 50 insurance companies, but our content is independently researched, written, and fact-checked by our team of editors and agents. We aren’t paid for reviews or other content.

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