Do You Rent? Why You Should Have Renters Insurance

11/30/2020 (Permalink)

One fire caused smoke and soot damage within other rental units. Do you have renters insurance?

There is a misconception regarding damage caused by a fire in an apartment or home you rent.  

Renting a single family home, apartment or condo may be the way that you personally choose your housing.  There are many perks when it comes to renting.  The biggest perk is that you are not typically responsible for the major incidents that may occur within those four walls like an electrical fire, busted water pipe, roof leak, or even when that 15 year old furnace decides it has served its purpose.  While those are great perks, you still have the responsibility of your own personal property that may become damaged due to a number of issues that may arise while living in a home you personally do not own.  Many renters mistakenly assume that their landlord's homeowner's policy will cover them if disaster strikes.  I wasn’t knowledgeable in this regard, until I ended up on the restoration side of the disaster.  Some may assume if the homeowner  neglected issues like water pipes, electrical and even the roof, that their insurance would cover my personal property.  How could I be responsible for something I had nothing to do with? Many also don't realize that the property's homeowner insurance only covers the actual property, not anything you own within the unit or home.  

It is so important that renters look into and purchase renters insurance.  I realized this when I was working an apartment complex fire.  The flames were contained to the one apartment, but that wasn't the biggest issue.  It was the smoke and soot that affected other units.  The smoke and soot got into apartments on other floors.  Here's the thing, one smoke particle is half the size of bacteria, 1/8 the size of a red blood cell neither one of those are visible to the naked eye.  Smoke and soot will find little pathways to follow holes around plumbing, and also find its way to your second floor or cooler parts of the home.  So essentially we had to pretest other apartment within that building.  Many renters didn't understand why they were going to have to pay for the smoke and soot cleanup within their apartments when it was a single condo that was the source of the smoke and soot.  

Unfortunately, that was the case for quite a few renters within that complex.  The cleaning of smoke and soot can be very tedious and time consuming even for professionals like SERVPRO of West Riverside City.  Our technicians are trained and certified to identify and remediate smoke and soot properly.    

There are four types of soot: 

• Dry smoke residue: Powdery, dry small and non-smearing particles resulting from fires that burn quickly at a high heat
• Wet Smoke residue: Smearing, sticky and strong-smelling particles caused by fires that smolder at low temperatures, resulting in smoke webs that may be challenging to remove.
• Fuel oil soot: Dispersed by puff backs from furnaces
• Protein Residue: Very strong-smelling, but practically invisible residue that can ruin the color of varnish or paint. 

Renters insurance is typically covered for a small monthly premium, the average renter’s policy has a $20,000 - $25,000 worth of coverage for your contents.  There are even rider policies (Which is coverage for things that may be worth more than the per-item limit on your renter’s insurance policy).  The value of your personal contents can add up quickly.  The most important aspect of renters insurance is deciding whether to purchase replacement value or actual cost value coverage.  While renters insurance is important for smoke and soot, it also covers many other things.

• Fire, lighting
• Windstorm, hail
• Explosions
• Riots
• Damage by aircraft
• Damage by vehicle
• Damage from smoke
• Vandalism
• Theft
• Falling objects
• Weight of snow, ice, sleet
• Damage from steam- heating/water-heating appliances/systems
• Leakage or overflow from water or steam
• Freezing of plumbing, heating, air conditioning
• Short-circuit damage caused by electrical appliances.

Bottom line renters insurance is essential and relatively inexpensive so call you friendly insurance agent and have them go over coverage options. It will protect your property should loss occur within the home or apartment you rent.  It is very inexpensive and well worth it!  

Have you experienced a loss due to fire or water damage?  Call SERVPRO of West Riverside City:

951-351=8033

We are always here to help!