What is Tenant Insurance

Tenant insurance is insurance that will cover your personal belongings in your home. The landlord will have the physical property insured, but it is up to you to make sure that everything within it is protected. You would, for example, lose all of your personal items in the event of a fire, unless you had tenant insurance.

Generally speaking, you want to give yourself options in the event of an emergency, and you want to be sure that you can replace the items than you might lose, such as televisions and computers, other important electronics and valuables. Most insurance companies have two methods for evaluating their payout amounts:

• Actual Cash Value. This is the value of the item at the time that it was lost. So if you bought a computer last year for $1000.00, your insurance would only pay you what the same computer would be worth today, which is most likely a lot less.
• Replacement Cost. This is the value of the item as it is today. So if you had lost a MacBook Pro laptop, the insurance company would pay you to replace the same one at today's price.

Make sure to check with your insurance companies to see whether they offer just one or both insurance options. The replacement cost option tends to have higher premiums, since the returns will be of higher value. It's up to you to decide which type of insurance fits your budget and also your expectations, in the event that something does happen and you need to get your belongings replaced.