Tenant Contents Insurance: Why It Matters
The owner’s insurance covers the building, never your belongings. Here’s what contents insurance covers and why renters skip it at their peril.
One of the most common, and most costly, misconceptions in renting is that the owner’s insurance will cover your possessions if something goes wrong. It won’t. If the home floods, burns or is broken into, the building is the owner’s problem; everything inside it that belongs to you is yours.
What contents insurance typically covers
- Your furniture, clothing, electronics and valuables against fire, storm, water damage and theft
- Temporary accommodation in some policies, if the home becomes unliveable
- Personal liability cover, included with many policies
- Optional cover for items you take outside the home: phones, laptops, bikes
What it costs
Renters’ contents policies are typically a few dollars a week. Most people insure a car worth less than the contents of their home without thinking twice. Add up what it would cost to replace your wardrobe, your bed, your kitchen and your electronics tomorrow, and the maths usually settles the question.
We can’t recommend specific insurers, but any reputable comparison of renters’ contents policies is a good place to start.