What your landlord's insurance does not do for you

Renting does not mean you have nothing to insure. It means the building belongs to someone else and everything else is still yours.

The landlord's policy is not for you

Your landlord's policy covers the building. It does not cover your belongings, and it does not cover your liability.

This is the most common misunderstanding in renters insurance. Renters sometimes assume that because the property is insured, they are insured. The property is insured for the owner's benefit.

Adding up what you own

Most renters underestimate their personal property considerably. The exercise that corrects it is simple: walk through mentally and imagine replacing everything at once.

Furniture, mattresses, televisions, computers, phones, kitchen equipment, clothing, bicycles, tools, sports equipment. Individually each is manageable. Together it is usually a five-figure number, and often well into it.

Liability is the part people forget

Renters policies include personal liability, which responds if you are found responsible for injury to someone else or damage to their property. That includes damage to the rental unit itself in some circumstances.

A cooking fire, an overflowing tub that damages the unit below, a dog bite. Any of these can generate a claim well beyond the value of your belongings.

Loss of use

If the unit becomes uninhabitable, loss of use coverage helps with the cost of living somewhere else. In a tight rental market that matters more than it used to.

A note on Florida specifically

Flood is not covered by a renters policy any more than it is by a homeowners policy. Renters in flood-prone areas can purchase contents-only flood coverage, which is worth knowing about if you are on a ground floor.

Where to start

Photograph what you own. It takes fifteen minutes and it both establishes what you should insure and documents it if you ever need to claim.

Related: Florida renters insurance, flood coverage, and storm season preparation.