Recently, we had an insurance issue where tenants had left for a week on vacation and, when they came back, there was a water problem.
No one knows exactly what happened, but pipes froze, water went everywhere, and it had been leaking for days when it was discovered. Ceilings had collapsed. The tenants’ things were damaged. They couldn’t live in the house and, although the owner prorated the rent they had already paid for the month, they had a real emergency situation.
The hotel wasn’t paid for because their lease didn’t cover that. Their property wasn’t paid for because the lease specifically said if their property was not insured it wouldn’t be paid for.
And they didn’t have tenant insurance.
These were two professionals- they do OK for themselves- but they didn’t have a lot of extra money to spend on all of these things that needed to be repaired or replaced. And they lost some important things.
Not only that, but they weren’t able to come back to the house for a month and a half. They had a very rough time and there was nothing we could do to really help ease any of it. The owner didn’t have the money to pay for everything- they weren’t covered for it all either- and the tenants had been advised in their lease that they needed to invest in tenant insurance.
They didn’t.
So a bad situation was made worse because there was no tenant insurance.
Tenant insurance is very inexpensive. It usually costs between $9-$15 a month and it really gives the policy holders a lot of peace of mind.
We had another situation not long ago where there was a sewer backup and raw sewage flooded into a basement. The tenant probably did immediate searches online using search terms similar to “sewage pipe repair near me” and found contractors. These contractors came and fixed the issue but the tenant had some of their private property in the basement and it was damaged by the leak.
But that tenant had tenant insurance. An adjuster came out and wrote them a check. They were able to restore what they’d lost.
Tenant insurance can help with hotel expenses if there’s an emergency and oftentimes tenant insurance will also cover animal liability. If you have a dog and it bites somebody you can get sued even if the person wasn’t hurt. Tenant insurance in Cleveland, or elsewhere in Ohio will cover that where an owner’s insurance policy wouldn’t. In addition, it’ll also cover things like damage to the landlord’s property, depending on the policy.
You need your own insurance to cover you and that’s not to mention your personal property. Personal property is only one part of it, but in a bad situation you need some peace of mind that these things are going to be taken care of.
It’s not something you really need to think about all that often, but, trust me, you’ll be happy you have it if and when you need it.
In the past, our leases here at Realty Trust Services didn’t require tenant insurance, but we’ve seen how much more smoothly things go- when something does go wrong- because of tenant insurance.
Tenant Insurance Is A Must
Because of those experiences, we’ve decided that- if a tenant signs a lease with Realty Trust Services- we now require them to have tenant insurance. It’s good for the owners, it’s really good for the tenants… it’s good for everyone involved.
This requirement isn’t something we make any money on, but we do have a vendor that offers tenant insurance and its set up right inside of our tenant software. Tenants can click it and get it. Very easy.
If you’re a Realty Trust Services tenant, you can find the tenant insurance on our website. There will be a little advertisement when you log in.
If you don’t have a login, call our office at 440.427.0423 and ask for a login to your online account.
If you’re a new tenant, we welcome you and we look forward to working with you to have a safe experience renting our houses with total peace of mind, contact us by clicking here or call us at our office anytime.
