Tenant Insurance: How much is your stuff worth?

Woman in the bedroom of her apartment, surrounded by her items and in bed with her computer trying to figure things out.

Photo by Vlada Karpovich from Pexels

Tenant insurance is what stops a bad situation from becoming a true worst-case scenario. It protects you from the immediate results of a bad situation, in three very important ways: Contents, additional living expenses and liability. Those are insurance terms, but here’s what they actually mean to you. Let’s say you overflow your kitchen. Tenant insurance will help you replace your damaged belongings (contents), the cost of having to stay elsewhere during the repair (additional living expenses) and damage to the property below yours (liability). One of the most common misconceptions people have about tenant insurance is that they don’t need it because they don’t have many high-value items to insure. But it’s not really about a few high-value items. Depending on where that pipe burst, replacing everything damaged in the process can add up fast. Imagine the pipe burst in your bedroom closet—sure, you’re not storing any big-ticket electronics in your wardrobe. But imagine the cost of replacing every item of clothing you own all at once, from your sweatpants to the clothing you wear to weddings and job interviews. Replacing everything in that one small space in your apartment or condo would cost more than a brand new 4K television! Additionally, tenant insurance covers more than just burst pipes. Lock your bike up downtown, and it gets stolen? That’s covered by tenant insurance. The airline permanently loses your luggage? Tenant insurance covers that, too! Contents coverage insures your belongings, assuming you have proof of ownership and value (more on that later!).

Calculating the value of your stuff

Don’t underestimate the value of your belongings. Maybe you’re one person who lives by yourself in a condo and you’re reading this thinking you don’t have a lot of valuables to insure. Think again. Maybe you have a quality sound system, a collection of shoes you cherish, or a fancy espresso machine to get you going in the morning. If you take those few nicer things, and factor in the value of more everyday items like your clothing, your furniture, and so on, the total value of everything you own is more than you’d think! No matter what your living situation is like, take a mental walk (or a real one) around your apartment. Open every door and cabinet and think about how much the cost of replacing everything inside them. That’s definitely a scary thought, but that’s exactly what tenant insurance is for. Before you buy tenant insurance, it’s important to do that walk around to add up the value of everything you own. First, so you can select an appropriate coverage limit (a.k.a., the maximum amount the insurance coverage will give you if you need to replace everything), as well as to get started on the documentation your stuff which will be handy should you ever need to submit a claim.

Creating a record of your personal property

After you’ve taken that walk around, it’s time to create a log while also calculating the estimated total value of your belongings. Here are some basic guidelines for value of “house contents” for insurance:

Take photographs of every room in your apartment or condo, from multiple angles to get all the details
Open your closets or cabinets to capture the contents
Open up a spreadsheet and use those photographs to start estimating the value of the contents of each room
Put an asterisk next to higher value items (electronics, a mountain bike, big ticket items you saved up for) and then go back for further documentation:
Capture close-up shots, including serial or model numbers
Photograph (or scan) the receipts or appraisals for any particularly high value items

Hopefully it goes without saying: Don’t just leave the photos on your phone (which should be in your inventory as well!). Instead, save all of your documentation to The Cloud so it’s available whenever you ever need it. Use a spreadsheet to add up the value of everything you just documented to give yourself a rough idea of how much coverage to buy. Note that your insurance may have a maximum amount they cover for specific items and you may need to purchase additional coverage for, let’s say, an inherited diamond ring.

Filing a tenant insurance claim

If you ever need to file a claim, the hardest part might be just remembering everything you had in the first place. Having created a record beforehand will save you from having to scramble to remember everything during a very stressful time. Once you file a claim, the job of an insurance adjuster is to establish that everything in your claim existed, that it belonged to you, and that the value of it is accurate. They will estimate property value for your items, which is why having documentation of what you own is so important. Some of your stuff will likely no longer available to buy, so you will have to demonstrate how much it would cost to buy a similar replacement (or in insurance-speak, replace it with “like kind and quality”). For example, you own a mountain bike which you keep locked in your condo garage. One day, someone cuts the lock and your bike is stolen. Luckily when you bought the bike, you took photos of the receipt, as well as the bike itself and its serial numbers. In short, when you file a claim, you need to provide:

A list of the items you are claiming
A description of those items
Each item’s value

In this scenario, your particular bike is a few years old and is no longer in stores to buy, but your photos mean that you can easily find proof of the equivalent value of a replacement. Note that for higher value items, such as that bike, you typically need to submit proof of ownership. This could be a receipt, an instruction manual, a warranty card, appraisal, and so on. On the other hand, for high-volume, lower value items (such as clothing, a book collection, and so on), a photograph that shows your shelves and their contents may be enough. To guarantee a smooth tenant insurance claim process, you’ll want to submit that proof of ownership along with the spreadsheet you made before, to provide a documented list of the value. Submitting a claim shouldn’t be difficult. Duuo’s tenant insurance is easy, flexible and can be submitted online. You’ll have to answer a few questions with the Duuo Claims Bot and then a real person will be in touch with you to help you out and talk about the next steps.

Comments Cancel reply

Matt Taylor says:

November 24, 2020 at 1:03 pm

As a landlord, I’d suggest stronger emphasis on the point that in the event the tenant needs to relocate — for short or longer period — all these additional costs are borne by the tenant. However tenants can get coverage for some of these costs through this form of insurance.

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Greg Cooper says:

December 8, 2020 at 12:34 pm

Has anyone ever heard of an insurance company that will sell just liability tenat insurance? I’ve tried for years to get just liability tenant insurance – just coverage for any damage I cause to the building, but no luck. I know that goes against what what this article is saying, but without getting into the reasons, I don’t need any other insurance.

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Gerry Kennedy says:

August 31, 2023 at 2:26 pm

if you live in a apartment and a pipe should burst who’s fault is that in the wall

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