A good insurance policy for Orlando landlords protects owners from liability, catastrophes, and loss of rent. You buy insurance to ensure you can repair or replace any part of your property. If you’re smart, you also have loss of rent insurance so your income won’t be disrupted if your tenants can no longer live in your property.
Hopefully, you’re thinking about your tenants, too.
Renter’s insurance is an affordable and easy way to bring tenants protection and peace of mind. It’s important that tenants buy their own insurance to cover their possessions as well as any risk that can come from accidents or disasters. As experienced Orlando property managers, we strongly recommend that your lease agreement requires renter’s insurance.
What is Renters Insurance?
Renters insurance typically includes liability coverage, protection for a tenant’s personal belongings, and sometimes coverage for additional living expenses in case the rental property becomes temporarily uninhabitable from a covered loss.
Accidents can happen, and the damage a tenant causes isn’t always intentional. If a storm causes flooding and a tenant’s expensive electronics get damaged and a guest becomes injured while visiting the tenant, a good renter’s insurance policy can reduce that tenant’s financial risk.
This type of coverage applies to all renters, whether they’re leasing a single-family home or a unit in an apartment building. As the landlord, you can request that you’re named as an additional insured or an additional interest in order to ensure that the policy stays in force and it gets renewed with the lease agreement every year.
Coverage Provided by Renters Insurance
The most important thing for most tenants is the coverage provided for their personal property. If a pipe explodes and damages the house or a tree falls through a window and takes out some valuable furniture or artwork, the renter’s insurance policy will cover the cost to replace or repair those things.
A landlord’s insurance policy will not cover those items. Under a landlord policy, liability and the structure of the home is covered; a tenant’s personal property is not. So, your tenants need a renter’s policy to make sure they don’t suffer a major loss if something happens at the home.
The renter’s policy will also cover liability. Tenants don’t usually think about their own liability when they’re renting a property, but anything can happen. If a tenant accidentally leaves a stove on and burns down half the kitchen, the renter’s insurance will cover the repairs that are necessary. This will save the tenant from a lot of out-of-pocket expenses, protect his or her security deposit, and provide some relief to the landlord. It also provides help with expenses if that fire requires a tenant to move into a hotel for a few days while the damage is repaired.
Everyone is afforded some extra peace of mind when a renter’s insurance policy is in place.
Renters Insurance is Affordable
The cost of renters insurance isn’t high. Tenants shouldn’t have to pay more than $15 or $20 per month for full coverage. Typically, they can add it to their existing automobile policy and enjoy additional savings.
Renters insurance is critical to both tenants and landlords. If you’d like to hear more about how we handle this and other matters pertaining to Orlando property management, please contact us at Park Avenue Property Management.