Are You Included on Your Tenant’s Renters’ Insurance?

If you are a property owner, you should be in your resident’s renter’s insurance policy, listed as an “additionally interested” party. If you aren’t in it yet, you need to work on changing that. It’s very important that your tenants, all of them, have placed you on their list. To label someone as having “additional interest” seems to mean that they have a financial interest. That is not the case when talking about renter’s insurance. What it means is that the person is interested– that is, has a stake– in the property. With this clarified meaning, it is easy to see why a property owner should be included in the list of interested persons. Many owners make sure that their renters have a renter’s insurance policy. But a lot of them don’t review it. They wouldn’t know if the policies carried actually have their names listed on it correctly. Requiring both a renter’s insurance policy and being accurately included in it are necessary parts in defending your rental home from unforeseeable problems.

You, as the owner, have many reasons for wanting to be updated with what is happening to your own Gonzales rental property. This is what is listed as an additionally interested in your tenant’s renter’s insurance policy will do. When a property owner or property management company is properly listed as an “additionally interested” on a renter’s insurance policy, it would help you. If there are changes made to the policy– which includes the failure to renew it– the owner or property manager is notified. This is valuable information that needs to get to the owner or property manager. This is especially true if the policies are paid monthly.

Despite your name being written in a tenant’s renter’s insurance policy, and being listed as an “additionally interested”, it does not grant the listed party any type of insurance coverage. As the owner, you can’t point to that policy and claim that your property is now protected. Rather, this list only grants information. It allows the owner to verify coverage; that’s all it grants, nothing more. This distinction is important and must be explained well to a tenant to avoid any misunderstandings.

A tenant also needs to be aware that if they move, the policy will not automatically be canceled nor will the name of the “additionally interested” entity be taken off. An owner listed as an “additional interest” does not have the power to make changes to the policy; they are not able to cancel it. The tenant is responsible for managing their policy. They should be the one to make the changes to the policy if they transfer or cancel it if they stopped renting a home.

Essentially all insurance companies who offer renters insurance will list an additionally interested in the policy upon request. If your tenant tries to avoid adding you on their policy by claiming their insurance company will not, it may be because they are not asking for the correct action. Adding an additional interest is different from listing an owner or property management company as an additional insured. When you are certain that your tenant really understands the difference between the two, the process can progress efficiently.

Explaining the complex parts of renter’s insurance can be a tedious task for owners. But it is critical that your tenants have the right insurance policies covering them and that you will be kept in the loop whenever changes are made. At Real Property Management, we take care of all the details of managing a rental property, including talking with tenants to make sure they comply with renter’s insurance requirements in Gonzales. Insurance is an important part of protecting your valuable investment property; make sure it’s done correctly with the services of Real Property Management Baton Rouge. If you want to know more about what we can do to serve you, don’t hesitate to contact us online or call us at 225-389-6860.

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