Renters insurance is key to protecting your belongings and having a smooth sailing tenancy in an apartment. Once you’ve completed the relatively easy process of getting it, you’re basically set for your entire time in the apartment (barring renewal and any changes requested). However, you should review your policy once a year to make sure everything is good. Here are the things that you should look over during your annual renters insurance review.
Key Takeaways
- Check coverage and liability limits: Review personal property coverage and liability limits to ensure they meet or exceed apartment community requirements and sufficiently cover all your belongings. Adjust limits or schedule high-value items if needed to protect expensive items.
- Review your premium and deductible: Evaluate the insurance premium yearly, considering factors like deductible amounts, coverage types, and available discounts such as bundling with other insurance policies to potentially lower costs.
- Verify policy details and occupants: Confirm that the deductible amount suits your preference, update the list of covered individuals such as roommates, and ensure the apartment community is listed as an interested party if required. Also, understand exclusions and coverage for temporary housing.
Why Should You Do an Annual Renters Insurance Review?
Reviewing your renters insurance each year ensures your coverage matches your current needs, helps catch any errors in your policy, and confirms you’re still adhering to landlord or apartment community requirements, preventing possible lease violations or financial gaps in protection. To make sure your policy is up-to-date, here is what you should review.
Check Coverage and Liability Limits
The first item you should review on your renters insurance is your personal property coverage and personal liability limits. For liability, the coverage amount must be equal to or greater than what your apartment community requires. The personal property coverage limit is up to your discretion, but it should be sufficient to cover all your belongings.
Schedule coverage for valuable items
Renters insurance has personal property coverage as part of the policy. This will protect everything you own, usually anywhere from $10,000 to $30,000. However, if you’ve purchased any expensive items over the past year, you need to make sure that your personal property coverage is enough to cover them.
Some policies have limits for high-value items. For example, while your coverage may cover up to $35,000, you may only have a limit of $2,500 on jewelry. If the coverage is insufficient, consider increasing the coverage amount, scheduling the item, or purchasing additional insurance.
Scheduling the item means that you’ll add it to your renters insurance policy with the specific coverage amount. Be aware that you may have to pay an additional premium to do so, but it usually isn’t much.
Review Your Premium
Renters insurance is typically affordable, but it’s a good idea to review your premium each year. Your premium is the amount that you pay for your renters insurance, whether that be one annual sum or monthly payments. Generally, the amount you’ll pay is calculated based on certain factors. You can adjust your premium by changing your deductible coverage limits, coverage type, policy details, specials, and personal/property factors.
Check if there are any specials or discounts
One of the easiest ways to lower your premium is checking to see if there are any specials that you could apply. A common one is bundling your insurance with another type of insurance, like auto insurance.
Verify Your Deductible
The deductible is the amount you will pay out of pocket before your renters insurance kicks in. You can usually choose how much your deductible will be, but keep in mind that a lower deductible means a higher premium and vice versa. Check that the deductible is the amount you would like and make changes if you want.
Check Who’s Listed on Your Renters Insurance
While you should add or remove roommates (if you are sharing a policy) as soon as your living situation changes, sometimes it can slip your mind. This is why checking it yearly ensures only the people who need to be on your policy are there.
In addition, check that your apartment community is listed as an additional interest/interested party. This is often required by apartment communities and could be considered a lease violation if you do not adhere to that rule.
Go Over What’s Not Covered
Renters insurance covers a lot, but there are some exclusions. It can vary depending on your location and your policy, so it’s important to read up on it each year. Common exclusions are:
- Flood damage
- Earthquake damage
- Pest damage
- Mold damage
Read Up on Loss of Use/Temporary Housing
Hopefully you won’t ever need the loss of use portion of your renter insurance policy, but you should know the basics just in case. Loss of use, also called temporary housing coverage, will cover additional living costs after being displaced from your primary residence because of uninhabitable conditions (often caused by an incident/disaster). Going over this each year makes sure that you know what you are entitled to in case you have to temporarily relocate.
Confirm Address and Information
All the information on the renters insurance policy should be the same as when you first got the policy. However, give it a glance each year during your annual renters insurance review just to make sure nothing has changed or is incorrect.
Get Help on Every Step of the Renters Insurance Journey
Regardless of where you are in your renters insurance journey, the Renterverse blog is here to help. From getting a quote to filing a claim, find out how to handle your renters insurance like a pro and stay protected.
FAQs
What should I do if I want to change something on my renters insurance?
After you conduct your annual renters insurance review, if there is anything you want to change, contact your insurance company.
Do I need renters insurance?
Often, landlords require renters insurance. Even if they don’t, you should still get renters insurance as it is essential to protecting yourself and your belongings.
How do I get renters insurance?
Start by researching possible companies and get a renters insurance quote from each one. Check with your landlord to see if there are any requirements, like a certain amount of liability coverage or having the landlord listed as an additional interest. Compare each quote you get and go with the one that fits you.
How do I file a renters insurance claim?
To file a renters insurance claim, you need to first document the damage or loss before contacting your insurance company. You’ll have to complete the necessary forms and submit all required documentation to your company.
