White Couch and Vases[/caption]Much like homeowners insurance, renters insurance is a good but not legally necessary idea. A good policy can protect your property from things like fire, theft, and even falling objects, but unlike auto insurance, you aren’t legally required to insure your home. However, there are other forces at work beyond the government.
Just as an example, maintaining a current homeowners insurance policy is a common requirement to getting a home loan from a lender. After all, the lender has a financial stake in your home until you finish paying them off, and so it’s in their interest as well as yours to make sure the building stays in perfect shape.
Rentals add an extra dimension to this by being a business, and businesses have extra responsibilities and mandatory insurance policies. The rental company may be held liable when things happen to their property, depending on what they could have done to prevent it, but either way, renters insurance represents a weight off their mind. It compensates renters who lose their personal property to a specific list of perils, and every dollar the policy pays out is a dollar the renting company doesn’t need to worry about.
Because of this, many insurance companies offer incentives to landlords, such as lower premiums, to encourage them to convince their renters to get insurance. They can then pass these savings on to their tenants with lower rent. Even without the rewards, a landlord may still encourage renters to get insurance since liability doesn’t change either way.
Of course, renters have good reasons of their own to get renters insurance. Fires and thefts happen, and you have to remember that you can’t get insurance that applies retroactively. Renters insurance can also protect against personal liability lawsuits directed at you, the tenant, plus policies also have a little money set aside for the medical bills of people who don’t live at the location. What’s better, renters insurance in North Carolina is cheap thanks to government price regulations. Renters insurance is a good idea all around, even if it’s not legally mandatory and whether or not your landlord insists on it.