Picture this: You tell your landlord day after day there are issues with your apartment’s plumbing system.
For months, the problem goes unchecked. Towards the middle of the summer, it rains non-stop for two weeks straight. You have a part-time job and you are a full-time grad student. During the intense rainfall, you come home late one day to a flooded apartment. All of your heels are submerged under water and your doggie bed is floating in sewage. Where’s the pup you wonder? Well, fortunately, it avoided becoming a sewage casualty by using the steps to climb to higher ground.
If you think this is straight out of a movie, you’d be incorrect. This is one of the many stories shared by our WhoseYourLandlord users. After this insane event happened, the renter called, texted, and emailed her landlord - all to no avail. Finally, after a week went by, she received a one-line text which read: “Have your rent in by the first.”
Or picture this:
You’re renting an apartment with three other roommates. Your landlord is known for his shabby remodeling jobs around the campus. During the holiday season, you all go home to be with your families. While you’re away, there's an electrical fire that rips through the entire unit. The landlord doesn’t tell you this happened, so when the four of you arrive back to your apartment, you’re greeted with the charred remains of your building – oh, and btw it’s January, which means it’s like 20 degrees outside…This time around the landlord blames you and your crew for the fire and again demands rent for that month. When this happened, the four students affected all moved back home and commuted to campus throughout the rest of their spring semester.
As wild as it sounds, these kinds of stories happen all the time. Our job at WYL is to stop these issues from even occurring. In the meantime, as we work to achieve that goal, as a renter, you need to do everything necessary to protect yourself and your most coveted possessions from disappearing.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svXDicedET4&feature=youtu.be[/embed]Theft, vandalism, natural disasters, and personal gaffes threaten us all. Currently, only 40% of renters nationwide have renter’s insurance policies. Peep a few reasons why we want to get that number way, way up:
- Covers your stay if your apartment is uninhabitable – Looking back at the stories shared above, it’s important to consider: had these students acquired renter’s insurance, Additional Living Expenses (ALE) support would have assisted in reimbursing them for food, hotel, and outside rent expenses while they were unable to stay in their home apartment.
- Covers personal belongings – Think how important this is for any millennial renter. If a burglar hits a four-bedroom apartment, they can make out like bandits: 4 TVs, 4 MacBooks, 4 iPads, 4x cash, 4x clothes, etc. The chances of getting got are just too high not to fork over the $90 - $150 a year to cover these items.
- Covers medical expenses for an injured guest – If you’re one to host parties often, you may want to take this into consideration. Most policies include medical coverage of up to $5,000 for injured guests.
- Covers items away from the home –Most policies include provisions to cover up to 10% of materials affected away from your home. Imagine your car getting broken into and someone stealing your iPad under the passenger seat (this legit happened to me…).
Interested in renter’s insurance coverage?
Take a look at Allstate’s plans. They provide personal property coverage, liability coverage, and additional living expenses. We partnered with Allstate because they are number one at providing renter’s insurance and because they thoroughly support our mission to make the rental process safer, more secure, and a higher-quality experience for everyone.
Do yourself a favor and protect what ya got!