Renters' Insurance FAQ Round-Up: Reference for Residents

Yes, renters insurance covers any personal property you keep in a storage unit. However, your policy may specify a separate, lower coverage limit for the stuff you store away from your home.¹

If someone steals items from your unit or your property sustains damage from a covered incident, you can file a claim. Covered incidents usually include fire, hurricanes, hail, smoke, tornados, explosions, and vandalism.²

You can proactively streamline the claims process by documenting everything in the storage unit, in list form and with photos. If you have receipts for these items, keep them in the same file. At a minimum, note when you purchased each stored item and what you paid.³

Yes, renters insurance should cover any stored property while you are moving. The lower limit for property stored away from home will apply. 

To avoid any technicalities, notify your insurance provider ahead of the move. Ask about any timing restrictions and how your coverage will transition to the new rental unit. Your policy likely only covers your old and new addresses at the same time for no more than 30 days.⁴

Your renters insurance will pay a claim on a broken appliance -- if a covered incident is at fault. So if a tornado tosses your coffee maker into your neighbor's yard, then yes, your renters insurance should reimburse you. An exception is if you take your coffee pot to a friend's house and the tornado carries it away from there. 

Your policy may also pay for appliances that sustain damage from a short circuit. Some insurers will set lower limits for this scenario, however.⁵

Renters insurance covers televisions in much the same way it covers appliances. The cause of the damage dictates whether your insurance will pay out. 

If you break the TV by dropping it or throwing something at it (say, during a heated sports match), you are out of luck. If the TV falls off the wall because you didn't use drywall screws, that's also your responsibility. 

However, if someone steals your television or it stops working after water damage from a hurricane, then you can file a claim.⁶

Your insurance carrier defines your food supply as personal property. So, yes, you may file a claim for food that's destroyed by a covered incident. 

Here's an example. A windstorm causes a power outage. As a result, the freezer in your garage shuts off and the food spoils. In that scenario, you probably have a viable claim. 

Whether you'd file this claim is another question. You will have a deductible to pay. If the food was worth less than the deductible, then there's no point in filing a claim.⁷

Renters insurance can cover your spouse or a girlfriend or boyfriend. You need only verify that your policy lists you and the other person by name. 

Depending on where you live, you may also have the option to add a roommate's name to your insurance. Some states allow this and others don't.⁸

Just because you can add a significant other or roommate to your renters policy doesn't mean you should. The advantage of sharing a policy is that you also share the premiums. 

The disadvantage is that you'll have lower cumulative benefits. The limits on personal liability, personal property, and additional living expenses will be twice as high if you each carry your own policy. 

As well, having two policies allows the two of you to maintain separate claims histories. On a shared policy, one big claim will hang around for both of you -- possibly pushing your premiums higher -- for several years.

A shared policy can also be awkward in a break-up. You'd have to remove the ex from the coverage, which may require signatures from both of you.⁹

Generally, no, your renters insurance does not provide adequate coverage for your home business. Your policy may exclude business equipment outright, or it may specify a low sublimit on these items. 

You may have protection on any equipment you share between your personal life and your business -- like a laptop. But any business software installed on the laptop, like a project management application, would be treated as business property.¹⁰

Also, the liability portion of your renters policy does not extend to your home-based business.

Yes, your renters insurance can help pay for injuries at your place. There are caveats, however. 

For one, this coverage does not extend to anyone who lives in the home. Only guests can tap your renters insurance for help with medical bills, and only if the injury was your fault. If your buddy is showing off his new yoga poses and twists an ankle, that's on him. But if your buddy trips over a chord you left on the floor, you are financially responsible. 

This type of claim would fall under your policy's personal liability coverage. That coverage protects against injuries you cause anywhere -- in your home or somewhere else. 

There's also a scenario where an injury at your home could be your landlord's responsibility. Say a friend trips on a broken step outside. As long as your lease doesn't require you to maintain that step, this is the landlord's issue and not yours.¹¹

Your policy may cover your child's personal belongings in an on- or off-campus apartment. 

Still, you may want to secure separate renters coverage for your college student anyway. A separate policy gives your college student liability protection plus additional living expenses. Their belongings will also have coverage while they are driving between home and school.¹²

Your policy may cover your child's personal belongings in an on or off-campus apartment. 

Still, you may want to secure separate renters coverage for your college student anyway. A separate policy gives your college student liability protection plus additional living expenses. Their belongings will also have coverage while they are driving between home and school.¹²

Your renters insurance does not cover injuries to your pet, but it should cover injury and damages caused by your pet. The common issues here are dog bites or cat scratches. If your dog chews a neighbor's couch or tears down a neighbor's fence, those issues should be covered too.

Your policy likely has exceptions for aggressive breeds of dogs and exotic or illegal pets, like ferrets.¹³