Does Renters Insurance Cover Floods?

While almost all North Carolina homeowners have homeowner’s insurance, a surprisingly smaller percentage of home renters protect themselves from financial loss by purchasing renters insurance. There are a number of reasons for this, ranging from the belief of many renters that their possessions don’t amount to a great enough value to justify insurance coverage to the assumption that the purchase of renters insurance would be too cost prohibitive. Both of these ideas may be unfounded.

Why Renters Insurance?

On the subject of value, even if you’re living in a totally furnished rental home or apartment, chances are good that your personal possessions would still be valued in the thousands. This includes all your clothing, bedding, kitchenware, electronics, artwork, jewelry and even your food. If your dwelling was burned to the ground, how much would it cost to replace everything of yours that would be lost? Your landlord’s dwelling insurance isn’t meant to cover the loss of your things.

As an example, if a freezer you use, owned by the landlord, has just been stocked with hundreds of dollars of food and suddenly breaks down, ruining the food inside, that’s your loss. Or, if you live in a second floor apartment and the bathtub overflows, ruining the ceiling and property of the renter living beneath you, that’s your responsibility. Both of these incidents would likely be covered by a quality insurance policy for renters.

If an individual visiting your rented home suffers a slip-and-fall injury and ends up suing you for negligence you may be faced with lawyer’s fees, medical costs and more. Renters insurance would cover this too. Your landlord’s property insurance probably won’t, leaving you, if uninsured, basically up the creek with no paddle.

On the question of renters insurance being too expensive, most policies cost far less than you might think. Typical quality renter’s coverage from a top-name insurance provider will generally cost only about 40-50 cents a day, or about $15 (or less) per month.

What Renters Insurance Won’t Cover

Two important perils not covered by a renter’s policy are protection from losses resulting from earthquake or flood. These are specialty type coverages that must be purchased separately from a regular policy. Flood insurance is available through the National Flood Insurance Program. Since certain locations in the Triad region are susceptible to flooding at certain times of the year, flood insurance may be something you should consider.