Landlords forcing tenants to carry renters insurance? (Everett: casino, money)

[ctr88]

Originally Posted by mishigas73

Wouldn't they? If they have a liability policy on the property, certainly what happens on the property would potentially be fair game, no? After all, in the case I just described, the homeowner's insurance covered it simply because the incident happened on the covered property.

See, this is the thing. Clearly if the landlord is negligent, their policy is going to be covering the damages. The requirement for the renter's liability policy is for times when there is no clear negligence on the part of the landlord. Why should they be paying (at least in the form of increased premiums) for those things that really are not their fault?

Why would a landlords hazard insurance policy pay for an accidental shooting??? That makes absolutely no sense. So say a friend is over for dinner at the apartment I'm renting and is helping me cook dinner and cuts themselves badly while slicing tomatoes...you are saying the landlords insurance would have to cover it??? That is nuts. You are basically saying the landlords insurance company has to pay for everything bad that ever happens in someones apartment? If that was the case there would be no insurance company left in business and you would not be able to get insurance.

[mishigas73]

Originally Posted by ctr88

Why would a landlords hazard insurance policy pay for an accidental shooting??? That makes absolutely no sense. So say a friend is over for dinner at the apartment I'm renting and is helping me cook dinner and cuts themselves badly while slicing tomatoes...you are saying the landlords insurance would have to cover it??? That is nuts. You are basically saying the landlords insurance company has to pay for everything bad that ever happens in someones apartment? If that was the case there would be no insurance company left in business and you would not be able to get insurance.

Ok, ask yourself this question.

Why do these rentals require tenants to carry liability insurance?

Hint: it's not because they want people to have another hoop to jump through, just for the heck of it.

It obviously is in their financial best interest to do so.

And, no, obviously insurance doesn't cover anything that ever happens within a residence. But, it does cover a heck of a lot. I forget which celebrity it was, but I recently read that his homeowner's insurance dropped him because they had settled one too many sexual abuse claims that happened at his house. Yeah, it can cover a lot.

If someone (or some entity) wants to take the chance of claims being made to their insurance, simply because an incident happened on the property, that's their decision. Personally, I believe it's an absolute smart thing to have renters carry their own liability policy for situations where liability is clearly not on the part of the landlord.

[mishigas73]

If you don't like what's on the lease, don't sign it and find somewhere else to rent.

With that said, wish you the best OP in your move, and I am done here.

[RustinginSeattle]

Ctr88, welcome to Seattle! You chose to move here and join the hoards, now you have to deal with the way we do things, or leave.

Renters insurance usually costs less than $150 per year. You can invest all that money you're saving by not paying state income tax into your insurance policy, which protects you. Tenants have HUGE rights in Washington and I don't blame landlords from doing what ever they can to cover their butts. If I was your landlord and heard you complaining so much about this, I would be very concerned about renting to you.

I know of cases where a tenant has left a bathtub to overflow and flood the unit below and ruins some of their belongings and did damage to the building. Who do you think should pay for that?

Now please stop whining and just call your car insurance company. You'll get such a fabulous discount on your car insurance for getting renters with them too that it will pay for a lot of your renters insurance costs.

[Hemlock140]

I'm in commercial real estate in Seattle, and one of my employees does nothing but process insurance certificates from the tenants. When they expire they have to provide a new one or can be evicted for non-compliance with the terms of the lease. We have done it once in 5 years. For residential it's really no difference, the landlord is simply protecting their investment. They are not passing on their cost, they still carry expensive insurance, they are just managing their liability risk.

[CrazyDonkey]

They do it, because they can. With the next economic bust, which periodically happens around here, they'll be offering inducements to people to move in and all these *****rdly requirements will rapidly fall by the wayside.

[pikabike]

More likely they would keep the insurance requirement and lower the rent. And that would amount to a lot more savings than not buying insurance.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by Medical-Snacks

Will it is just a smart move to have renters insurance but that is just me.

Renter's insurance can be pretty nifty. The first time I had renter's insurance, I was doing a project in the archives of the music school, helping them copy recordings in their archives. I had my own recording equipment, as they let me make copies of everything for myself, as well. Over the Christmas holiday, a student who had a key to the archive room (only 2 students besides the archivist had a key) stole my equipment before he went home to Hawaii for Xmas. My renter's insurance paid to replace it, even though the incident had nothing to do with my residence. My belongings were covered by the insurance, so they paid.

Pretty sweet deal!

[DutchessCottonPuff]

The Apt complex where I have lived the past few years in Everett ( of course ) raised mine 2 years ago from 100,000 to 300,000. and they also progressively raised the rent to now 100% of what it was only 3 years back ( one year before the 300,000 increase)

The new one I am going to in University place is still 100,000.

[VJUSMC]

You should carry renter's insurance either way forced or not. In the end you are protecting your belongings, and yourself. If something happens the owner will only be concerned about themselves and their property. I once rented a lower level condo, and the unit above caught fire, and we lost everything due to water and smoke damage. My renters insurance that was like 16$ a month replaced everything at full replacement value.