While tenant insurance can vary between insurance providers, policies typically include the following types of coverage:
Personal Contents: This covers the cost to repair or replace, clothes and most household items. Even if you think your belongings have little value, the cost of replacing everything at once adds up.
Liability Coverage: As a tenant, you are legally responsible for any damage you cause to any part of your building and for unintentional harm caused to others who live in or visit the property. This provides coverage if a guest injures themselves in your unit, for example, and takes legal action against you.
Additional living expenses: If something happens and you cannot live in your rental while it is being repaired, where will you stay? What will you eat? This coverage pays, in certain circumstances, for any necessary expenses incurred while your apartment is being repaired. These include hotel bills, restaurant meals and moving costs. It is subject to specified limits.
Voluntary Medical Payments: This coverage pays reasonable medical expenses in the year after an accident if you unintentionally injure another person or if they are accidentally injured on your property – even though you are not legally liable. Insurers in Ontario, for example, offer coverage for between $5,000 – $10,000, and there is no deductible.
Voluntary Property Damage: This pays what it would cost to repair or replace the property with materials of similar quality at the time of loss. Most insurance companies in Ontario, for example, set limits for this type of coverage at $1,000. There is no deductible.
Optional Coverage: If necessary, you can add extra coverage to your policy for an additional premium. This includes, depending on the carrier, increased liability, water damage protection and more. You can also increase contents insurance.