Everything You Need to Know About Renters Insurance

Renters insurance can seem expensive, which is why so many Canadians opt to go without.

However, renters insurance is becoming increasingly important as more Canadians begin to look into long-term renting. Part of the reason some renters view this insurance as unnecessary is because they don’t know just how valuable and flexible the service can be.

New renters might not even realize exactly what they’re getting when it comes to renters insurance - or tenant insurance, as it is also sometimes called. Renters insurance provides coverage for contents (even if they’re not in your home) and liability. 

Contents coverage refers to items of value that a renter owns. This can range from obvious things like your expensive jewelry or prized collection of high-end guitars to the less obvious like clothing and books. Liability coverage covers renters for accidents that happen in their own home, like a fire, that could potentially spread to someone else’s and damage their property as well. With renters insurance, that scenario is covered, too.

Renters insurance, on average, is a very cheap monthly expense. For the price of a decent meal, renters can instead gorge themselves on peace of mind. While the average cost of renters insurance varies from province to province, it’s not that different - British Columbia’s average cost is $26, while Ontario’s is $21. 

Renters insurance can also be strengthened using some tenant best practice tips that even veterans of the renting game aren’t always aware of. Saving receipts for proof of ownership is an easy step, as is taking photos or video footage of the most important possessions you have. This provides insurance companies with the requisite number of details to ensure a better and more accurate payout.

Renters insurance is one of the most valuable tools in the arsenal of tenants - and also one of the cheapest, as it turns out. While landlord insurance does offer some overlap with the broader accidental policies involved, the only way to safeguard the personality and uniqueness of a tenant’s home is to go the extra mile and pick up renters insurance.