Is Renters Insurance Ever Mandatory?

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here is no state in the US where renters insurance is required to be carried by law. However, it is completely legal for your landlord to require that you carry a certain amount of coverage. Here’s what you need to know:

• If your landlord requires you to carry insurance, the specific amounts will be listed in the details of the lease.
• These requirements will typically have more to do with liability than with covering your own property. You are generally free to buy as much or as little insurance as you like to protect your own possessions, but some landlords may ask that you carry some coverage in the event someone gets injured on the property that you are renting.
• Many landlords will not require that you buy renters insurance. In more cases than not, the landlord’s insurance plan on the property is going to cover any liability concerns that may arise. However, some landlords like having the extra layer of protection. Further, it’s not a terrible idea to carry your own insurance because, while more claims than not will be handled by your landlord’s policy, there are always those instances where you may be held personally responsible, as well.

One of the reasons some landlords won’t bother with a provision like this is the simple fact that the added expense may turn off countless renters. Ultimately, liability is more the landlord’s risk than the renter’s, so pushing that cost off on the renter may leave that person looking for somewhere else to stay. Be that as it may, it is not unheard of for an injured party to go after both the landlord and the tenant. So, it is not necessarily a waste of money to invest in renters insurance — not only to protect your own possessions, but also to protect you against any liability claims that may be made against you.

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