The American dream includes buying your own home. However, on the path to that dream, you may find yourself renting a place to live. Believe it or not, there are many advantages to renting your home in Georgia rather than owning it. Renters aren’t subject to property taxes, and they don’t have to pay for costly repairs, such as a leaking roof, HVAC, or the replacement of landlord-owned broken appliances. According to Census Bureau statistics from 2019, almost 36% of households in Georgia were renters.
Although renting can save you on some of the costs of homeownership, getting affordable renters insurance in Georgia is not something you should skip.
Am I Required to Buy Renters Insurance in Georgia?
Georgia doesn’t have any current laws requiring you to carry renters insurance. However, many landlords require you to carry coverage before they’ll rent to you.
There are many good reasons to carry renters insurance. If there’s a fire or other event where your personal property is damaged, your renters insurance can help cover your loss. If a visitor falls and is injured, your renters insurance can protect you if they decide to sue.
How Much Does Georgia Renters Insurance Cost?
Pennies a day in most circumstances. The cost of renters insurance is well below the value it provides, especially if a situation occurs and you need to cover your losses. The average price of renters insurance in Georgia is about $25 per month or $300 per year. That’s well below the cost of homeowners insurance, which costs on average about $1,376 per year in Georgia.
Several factors impact the price you’ll pay for renters insurance in Georgia. For example, your insurance will cost you more if you live in a neighborhood with a higher crime rate.
Factors affecting your cost for renters insurance include:
- Type of residence
- Neighborhood you live in
- Age of residence
- Indoor sprinkler systems (whether it has it or not)
- Dog breed
- Credit score
- Coverage amount
What Does Renters Insurance in Georgia Cover?
Renters insurance helps protect what you’ve invested in your belongings. While homeowner’s insurance covers the structure of your home (and the things inside), renters insurance protects your personal property. Renters don’t own the structure they live in, but it is filled with their personal property. Therefore, if it burns to the ground, it’s not a financial loss to you. However, you could lose all your personal belongings.
Renters Insurance Helps Replace Personal Property
Although there’s no replacement for pictures and mementos, items with monetary value like furniture, clothing, and dishes can be replaced with your renters insurance. A renters insurance policy offers protection for your belongings that are damaged in a perilous event such as:
- Fire
- Wind
- Smoke
- Water damage
- Lightning
- Explosions
- Vandalism
- Theft
- Falling objects
- Appliance malfunction
The protection renters insurance offers for your personal property extends beyond what happens inside your home. It also covers the belongings in your vehicle or when you are traveling. So if you’re on a road trip and someone steals your cell phone out of your car, renters insurance will cover the cost to replace it. Your renters insurance may even cover you if someone steals your credit card and uses it fraudulently. Renters insurance even covers personal property in a storage unit.
Displaced Living Expenses
If you are displaced from your rental home due to a covered event, your renters insurance will pick up the tab for your hotel or other temporary living arrangements. However, this “additional living expenses” coverage is typically limited to a percentage of your personal property coverage.
Renters Insurance and Liability
If one of your guests is injured in your Georgia rental home and threatens to sue you, your renters insurance can help cover your legal fees. If you are found liable, your policy can also help pay for the medical bills and other costs.
Renters insurance also comes in handy if you are responsible for damages to your rental home and others around it. For example, say you leave for the winter months and the pipes in your apartment freeze and burst, causing water damage to your apartment and the apartment below you. Your renters insurance has you covered.
What Doesn’t Georgia Renters Insurance Cover?
Renters insurance doesn’t cover the structure of your home. That should be covered under your landlord’s insurance. There are also certain perilous events, like floods and earthquakes, that aren’t covered. If you have a roommate, they aren’t covered under your renters insurance policy so they should have a policy too.
Although renters insurance will cover you if your belongings are stolen from your car, it won’t cover any damage to your vehicle by the thieves. Damage to your vehicle would be covered under your car insurance policy.