Renting a home means that you occupy property owned by another person. Your occupancy poses liability risks to both you and the homeowner. As your family grows, so does the liability risk you experience in the rental. Each new person in the home has a specific cost liability risk associated directly with them. Growing your family means that you have a greater risk of damage or harm to others in the home.
As your family grows, you may decide to continue living in your rental home. Renting is a convenient way for small families to afford to live in a home without the burdens of mortgages or homeownership. If you will no longer be the sole occupant of the residence, it’s time to take a look at your renters insurance. Changing your policy may better help you protect new members of your family.
Keep these tips in mind to help you better address your renters insurance needs as your family grows.
Before Expanding Your Family, Check Your Lease
Moving another person into your home may require you to update the lease you signed. The lease holder may have to disclose to the landlord any new permanent residents of the home. These may include spouses, children and others who will stay with you for an extended period of time.
Landlords often cannot turn you out of your rental because you get married or have children. Federal housing law prohibits eviction discrimination in most cases like these.
However, a landlord may still be able to request that you move out as your family grows. They can usually only do so in limited circumstances. For example, a growing family may violate the safe occupancy limit of a home. This may lead to overcrowding as well as health and safety risks. In this case, your landlord may be able to justify evicting you. Eviction generally requires a lawfully-mandated process. If eviction must occur, your landlord likely has to work with you to initiate the lease termination.
Before starting a new family, talk to your landlord about your plans. They may be able to help you learn about any procedural updates you need to make on your lease. Remember, landlords likely can reasonably ask for the names, ages and other information of people living in the home. However, they likely cannot use this demographic information to unfairly evict you.
Update Your Renters Policy
When you moved into your rental property, you may have bought renters insurance. Indeed, many landlords require tenants to carry renters insurance before they issue a lease. A renters insurance policy pertains to the risks you, the renter, face in the property.
These policies protect you specifically because they issue coverage for your personal risks that the landlord’s home insurance may not cover. Furthermore, they provide you with a degree of protection for problems you might cause on the property. Renters policies usually comes with liability and personal property damage coverage.
Liability coverage can protect a family in case a third party sustains injuries or property damage on the rental property. Adding a new occupant, like a spouse or child to your home means that you often bring more chances of liability claims in the home.
Think of it in the context that a new occupant may have connections to new third parties who might visit your home. For example, your new spouse might invite friends over for a housewarming party. While in your home, a guest may fall and break a leg. This could cause them to face high medical bills and miss work. If that person sues you, you may be able to use renters liability insurance to help you pay for their losses. So, when your family grows, take a look at the existing limits of your liability insurance. You might need to increase the limits if you feel you could face higher potential claims.
Property damage coverage pertains to your personal items in the rented space. Your landlord may own the home and appliances. But, you likely own furniture, electronics and other personal possessions. Often, your landlord’s property insurance will not cover damage to these items. You should place a coverage on these items so that you can afford to replace them following a covered peril. Expanding your family may mean that you bring a lot of new personal possessions into your home. This means that there’s more value attached to your personal property. Therefore, more possessions increases your need for high personal protection coverage limits.
When your family changes, it helps to review your renters policy limits. More people equal more risks. Therefore, talk to your agent about the best ways to augment your policy.
Do you need Decatur renters insurance? Call Peachstate Insurance at 877.997.2478, and we can help you change or update your policy as needed.