Your landlord is not legally responsible to replace your possessions lost to fire, water damage, burglary etc. Further, property management is not required to help you with alternate living arrangements while your apartment is being repaired. Protect yourself with renter's insurance, covering personal possessions, personal liability, pet damage, water/sewer coverage, and additional living expense.
As one of the conditions for renting an apartment, you are required to maintain Renter’s Insurance coverage during your entire occupancy at the Premises.
This will insure all your personal property: clothes, furniture, electronics, heirlooms and all valuables etc of any kind from risk of loss or damage while in your apartment. In addition to protecting your personal property, you need to obtain liability coverage. Different carriers offer different coverage plans, from which you can choose the appropriate deductible and amount of personal property coverage, as well as provide appropriate liability coverage in case you are held liable for any damages by any of your guests, or by any other tenant. Please review and update your Renters Insurance policy every time there is any change in the value of your personal property or the liability limits you need to insure against.
You may obtain Renters Insurance from any insurance company of your choice which meets the landlord's credit (AM Best rating of AA or better), solvency requirements (AM Best rating of A or better), and must provide proof of continuous insurance to your landlord, or upon request. Explanation of AM Best ratings.
You must name both "sfrent.net, LLC" as well as your Landlord as an "additional insured" under the renter’s insurance policy.
Forced-Placed Insurance
If you fail to maintain Renters Insurance as required by Landlord, we reserve the right to obtain insurance at your expense to protect our interest. The amount will be charged to your account and will include a minimum service fee of $50. This insurance is called "forced-placed insurance". Your Landlord will obtain forced-placed insurance if:
1) You allow your Renters Insurance covering the property to lapse;
2) The amount of your renter's insurance is below then-current minimum requirements. The current minimums are:
3) The deductible is increased beyond the minimum standard; or
4) The insurance company issuing the policy does not meet Landlord's minimum requirements for insurance company solvency or rating.
Disclaimer: Forced-placed insurance coverage may not be comparable to your former or preferred coverage, and may not adequately protect your interest. Forced-placed insurance may cover only a portion of your property and will only be in the amount estimated by Landlord to protect its interest. In addition to other differences, forced-placed insurance may differ from insurance coverage that you would purchase on your own behalf in the following manner:
• The amount or type of coverage on the forced-placed insurance policy may be more or less than your former policy
• The amount or type of coverage may only protect Landlord
• The deductible may be higher or lower
• There may not be sufficient personal property/contents or personal liability coverage
Forced-placed insurance is typically more expensive than the insurance that you obtain through your own agent, and you are obligated under the terms of the lease to pay for forced-placed insurance that Landlord purchases.
If Landlord obtains forced-placed insurance, this forced placed insurance may be canceled when you obtain insurance that is acceptable to Landlord. While the forced-placed insurance is in force, you will be charged for premiums due for any time period for which you fail to provide acceptable coverage, any cancellation fee assessed by the insurer, any policy issuance fee and any other costs that Landlord incurs as a result of your failure to maintain adequate insurance. You may be entitled to a prorated refund of premiums paid, subject to insurance, retention, and administrative costs if you obtain your own renter's insurance policy naming Landlord as an additional insured and the forced-placed insurance policy is canceled as a result. It is solely your responsibility to recover any refunds.
Landlord encourages you to contact your own insurance agent to advise them of our insurance requirements and to assure us that you will maintain acceptable coverage throughout the term of this lease, providing a copy of the policy, insurance company and agent contact information, and coverage start and end dates.
Renter's coverage can help you replace your belongings after a covered incident in your home, such as a fire or burglary. You may be surprised at how much everything in your pad is worth when you add it all up. The average renter owns about $20,000 in personal property and is 25 percent more likely to be burglarized than someone who owns a home. And the beauty of how enters insurance covers theft is that it protects your belongings anywhere in the world, whether they're stolen from the trunk of your car or your backpack in a Paris hostel.
If you're sued because someone was hurt in your apartment or because you (or someone covered under your policy) accidentally injured someone, Renters Insurance can provide liability coverage for legal costs. The limits of personal liability coverage vary, so check to see what your limits are when you get a quote.
Your renters policy can also help cover medical payments up to a certain limit if a guest or visitor is injured on your property — though it generally doesn't cover injuries to you or other household members. This is recommended.
Rental insurance coverage for your apartment or house follows you wherever you go, so if you accidentally break or damage someone else's property, your policy can help pay to replace it. This is recommended.
If you can't stay at your apartment because of damage or another covered incident, home rental insurance can help you pay for a place to stay. Loss-of-use coverage, otherwise known as relocation expenses or additional living expenses, could help cover the cost of living expenses up to a certain limit. This is highly recommended.
How much Renters Insurance for your stuff?
By Jeremy Herron • Bankrate.com
Highlights
· Insurers say the average renter has upward of $20,000 worth of belongings.
· Experts recommend renters insurance that will replace lost items with new.
· Renters need extra insurance coverage for jewelry, art and other valuables.
Your flat-screen TV. Your computer. Your roomful of designer shoes/sneakers……
What's all the stuff in your apartment worth? When you buy renters insurance -- and that's something you really ought to do if you live in an apartment -- it's important to have an estimate so you'll know how much coverage you need.
USAA insurance says the average renter has more than $20,000 in possessions, while Allstate puts the total at around $30,000. Here are some steps for determining how much you have so you can shop for a renter's policy that will provide enough protection in case of fire, theft or other loss.
Start by documenting your things. With a camera or your smartphone, walk through each room taking wide shots and then close-ups of individual items, says Don Griffin, vice president of personal lines at the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America. "It will startle most people how much stuff they have," he says.
· Renters insurance protects property
· Renters insurance for former homeowners
Once you have your video or photos, it's time to start making an item-by-item list. If that sounds tedious, it's because it probably will be. But this is a once-every-few-years exercise, Griffin says.
Most insurers have online tools to help with the inventory process. For example, Allstate's Household Inventory Guide has three pages of ledgers that break down possessions by room and type, making it easy to get a grand total.
Whatever method you use, you'll eventually want to store the inventory someplace safe, because not only will it help you figure out how much coverage to buy now, but it also will be useful later, if something happens and you need to make a claim. "You don't want the files to get destroyed or stolen," Griffin says.
Some insurers, like State Farm, let customers upload digital inventories to the company's website. Otherwise, stash digital copies in the cloud or on a jump drive in a safe deposit box.
When you buy renters insurance, Griffin recommends that you steer clear of policies that will provide merely the current "fair market value" of your used items if they're lost or stolen. What you want instead is a policy that will provide "replacement value," so that you can buy everything new again.
Once you have your inventory together, it's time to go "shopping" to research replacement values. "You can go online to Amazon or Target to get an idea of what the range might be" for many items, says Lisa Karpienski, the product manager for renters insurance at USAA.
It's an important step because many people underestimate the cost to buy things new. "That 10-year-old couch might have cost $500, but a new one could run you twice that," Griffin notes. Go to Ikea's website or the local furniture store and price a comparable sofa.
But don't get greedy. "If you've got a 32-inch flat-screen, you're not looking to see what a 50-inch model costs," Griffin says.
Griffin says people most often underestimate the value of their clothes. "You might buy a tie here or there, or a shirt every couple of weeks, but you don't realize how that adds up," he says. So throw open the closets and take a detailed inventory, noting the brands. Then do some price-checking to see what it would cost to buy all those threads today.
The average person spent nearly $700 at clothing and accessories retailers in 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Karpienski says most folks have at least $3,000 in clothing, and people who wear suits to work probably have upward of $5,000.
Also consider items in storage, such as sports equipment. "You'll want to make sure you think about everything, because the idea is to have enough coverage to start over from scratch without having to sacrifice," says Jim Whittle, chief claims counsel at the American Insurance Association.
With some very expensive items, it doesn't matter if you know the replacement value; a standard renters insurance policy will have limits on coverage for jewelry or art works. The limits don't apply in the event of a total loss, such as if the apartment burns down, Whittle says. But if these expensive items go missing or are stolen, the limits kick in. "If you have a $50,000 contents policy, it may only provide $5,000 of that for jewelry," he says.
If your pricey possessions exceed these sub-limits, typically $2,500 or $5,000, you'll want to get what's known as a rider, an add-on that insures specific items if they get stolen or you lose them.
"In most instances, insurers will want appraisal documents for items on a rider," Whittle says. Big jewelry purchases typically come with them, but you'll want to take your stamp collection to a certified appraiser.
Musical instruments, photography equipment and even golf clubs count in the list of valuable items that might need riders.
Having a rider on, say, a ring also broadens coverage for that item, says Griffin. If you forget your ring on the bathroom sink at a restaurant after washing your hands and it's gone when you go back, the rider will cover the loss, for example. "That's not normally covered by a renters policy," he says.