Understand renters, homeowners, and landlord insurance with practical guides covering common risks, coverage limits, exclusions, deductibles, and claims.
Renters insurance may cover certain losses caused by a power outage, but the outage itself is not usually enough to trigger coverage. Whether the policy pays for spoiled food, damaged electronics, or temporary accommodation generally depends on why the electricity failed. Coverage is more likely when the outage results from a peril covered by the…
Renters insurance generally covers personal belongings damaged or destroyed by fire, smoke, and certain related losses. It may also pay additional living expenses when a covered apartment fire makes your rental temporarily uninhabitable. Coverage can apply whether the fire begins in your apartment, a neighboring unit, another part of the building, or outside the property…
Standard renters insurance generally does not cover personal belongings damaged directly by an earthquake. Earth movement is commonly listed as an exclusion, along with flooding, landslides, and other ground movement. To protect furniture, electronics, clothing, and other possessions from earthquake damage, renters usually need a separate earthquake policy or an endorsement added to their renters…
Renters insurance may cover hurricane damage to your personal belongings when the loss results from a covered event such as wind, wind-driven rain entering through storm damage, or certain related incidents. However, standard renters insurance generally does not cover external flooding or storm surge. Renters usually need separate contents-only flood insurance to protect belongings from…
Standard renters insurance generally does not cover bed bugs, extermination costs, or damage caused by an infestation. Insurance companies commonly treat bed bugs and other pest infestations as preventable maintenance problems rather than sudden and accidental events. As a result, a standard policy usually will not pay to treat the apartment, replace an infested mattress,…
Renters insurance generally covers jewelry under the personal-property section of the policy when it is stolen or damaged by a covered event. However, the amount available for jewelry theft is commonly much lower than your total personal-property limit. A policy may provide $25,000 or more of total personal-property coverage while limiting jewelry theft claims to…
Renters insurance generally covers personal belongings stolen outside your rental home when theft is a covered peril under the policy. This protection is commonly called off-premises coverage. Depending on your policy, coverage may follow your belongings when they are in your car, hotel room, workplace, college, gym, storage unit, or another temporary location. However, coverage…
Renters insurance generally does not pay to replace a broken window in the apartment or house you rent because the window is part of the building, not your personal property. The landlord or property owner is usually responsible for insuring the building’s windows. However, who ultimately pays for a broken window depends on what caused…
Renters insurance generally covers water damage to your personal belongings when it results from a sudden and accidental event covered by your policy. Examples may include a burst pipe, an overflowing toilet, or a washing-machine hose that unexpectedly breaks. However, standard renters insurance typically does not cover damage caused by external flooding, storm surge, gradual…