Have you considered a management company? For around 8 percent of the rent, they take some of the headache out of bad situations. Plus, they may cover some of the loss, too.

So I think, like all rental laws, it’s highly local what you can and cannot require when it comes to renter’s insurance. It wasn’t required when I lived in San Francisco, DC or Baltimore. But I’ve got a good story on my blog about about losing everything in fire and having renter’s ins cover it. (Happened to a co-worker of mine on St. Patrick’s Day.)

Their lack of insurance is no problem of yours.

To expect a normal months rent for a place that is no longer normal (and significantly so) would be unfair.

Good call.

And to Cents – your tenants insurance will most definitely not cover property that is not yours.

Having said that, there may be a deductible for that coverage, and the 7 days of being uninhabitable might not hit the deductible.

It’s definitely worth a quick call to your agent (or claim rep), though.

I’ve never seen rental insurance as a requirement on any of my leases.

SingleGuyMoney: We do have a landlord’s insurance policy, which is picking up the tab of other things. We have to look into whether it picks up the tab for the tenant’s stay. While I thought it might (like car insurance picking up substitute transportation), my wife seems to say it doesn’t.

In the confusion it’s possible I have that information wrong. It’s been doubly hard with here away on business last week and time zones of calling Boston from California during business hours.

I did make it clear to her that if something were to happen with her personal property, I would not be responsible for it.

I also have a clause in my lease that if something catastrophic was to happen to the property, she could break the lease without penalty.

Do you have a landlord’s insurance policy? Mine pays for lost rent when something like that happens.

The place was uninhabitable for a week since we had no backup shower. The landlord reimbursed me for 1 week of rent and apologized. There was no personal property damage, but that is clearly covered by renter’s insurance anyway (which I do have.)

All CA leases I have signed require proof of renter’s insurance, so that’s definitely a legal clause here. My last landlord did ask me to print it and kept it on file. Current landlord has not asked for it, though the lease states it as a requirement.

-Erica

Glad you got things worked out reasonably well.

The first month I had my house rented, the HVAC went completely out. Talk about a tough month to become a landlord.

I figure the legality does vary by state, which is why I suggested I might require it if it’s legal in MA to do so.

It would seem that forcing the tenant to purchase a product that you (landlord) have no insurable interest in would fly in the face of some of the equal housing laws. When I was a renter (3 apartments in 2 states) I never had a landlord even mention it (and, in fact, I did not have coverage in my first apartment). The legality may vary by state.

Our loss of use said that my wife had to provide an option of suitable housing, by finding the other apartment, we’ve covered that. However, I think that when there’s no negligence on the landlord’s part it defaults to renter’s insurance for the temp housing (probably a limit of a week or something). It seems like it would be fair too, because the renter checked into a hotel that we didn’t approve and were difficult to reach for a week. What if they checked into a $500 a night suite? Should we be on the hook for a week that would add up to more than 3 months of their rent?

It sounds like it could be a situation like substitute transportation in a car accident, but they didn’t really pursue our insurance company for that.

Don’t take my word for how insurance should work out in this case, it’s just how we have it worked out.

As for the loss of use … hmm. Does the lease specifically address this? It seems that the landlord would have some sort of duty to provide living quarters comparable to the original property.

It is definitely a good idea for people to have renter’s insurance, though. As CentsInTheCity mentioned, it’s really not terribly expensive and can save a huge headache down the road. It’s surprising how much your possessions are worth, when you start adding up every t-shirt and screwdriver.

Cents – your policy definitely doesn’t cover the possessions of your roommates.

I live in NYC and my renter’s insurance with State Farm costs about $180 per year…that’s $15 a month! For that I have coverage of about $35,000 with a $500 deductable. (This is all off the top of my head.) While my possessions aren’t worth very much, replacing them all out of pocket would be horrid. $15 a month is worth the peace of mind.

Did you advise your tenant to get it when they moved in?