Advice on Renter's Insurance

Video Transcript

"This is John Pinelli, Financial Representative, giving you advise today on renters insurance. It is important for anyone who is renting a property to have renters insurance. Now some people might think that because they don't have a significant amount of assets or property within their rental unit that they do not need to purchase any kind of renters insurance because the stuff that they own is not worth insuring. This may be the case where you may not have items that might be worth insuring, but it still could be important to purchase renters insurance because renters insurance can provide liability coverage in the event that someone is injured at your home. Oftentimes homeowners policies that your landlord may have will not cover this sort of liability if someone is injured at your house. Also it will cover the assets in your house so if you do have expensive items you will want to have those covered. Now renters insurance can be fairly easy to afford, $15, $20 to cover all your assets in addition to that liability coverage. And one thing I did forget to mention is that the liability coverage also covers attorneys fees which can be fairly expensive if someone decides to sue you. Even if they have no grounds for a lawsuit they may decide to sue you and you will want to have some sort of legal representation in court, and a renters insurance policy with a liability coverage would provide coverage for attorneys fees. Landlords may require their renters to have renters insurance because it will provide a little bit more of a higher level of commitment on behalf of the renters. If the renters were to have property stolen from their house they may not be able to afford to pay the rent for the next following months, so by a landlord forcing their tenants to have this renters insurance they can at least sort of ensure that these people are able to still continue to pay their rent in the event that property is stolen. Also, having a tenant pay $15 or $20 a month shows that they're a little bit committed to staying in the place, shows that they have a little bit more disposable income so during financial tough times they will still be able to afford the rent. If they're having trouble paying an extra $15 or $20 a month, chances are they're not going to be around in a few months and any sort of problem that may arise in their life could cause them to be late on their rent or not pay their monthly rent at all which could be potentially start a long eviction process which could be very much of a hassle for the renter. So this has been John Pinelli, Financial Representative, talking to you today about renters insurance advice."