renter's insurance for causing property damage
Renters' Insurance should also have some level of liability coverage. I.e.: if you caused a flooding because you went on and broke the pipe, or a fire because you smoked in the bed - there should be some level of coverage for that. However, most of the damage the tenant can do is probably not accidental. If you broke the pipe - you probably did something wrong. If you caused fire by smoking in bed - you obviously did something wrong. While seemingly accidental, you're deeply at fault. Insurance companies are not in business for rewarding risky behavior. Accidents where the tenant has nothing to do with what happened (earthquakes, fires because of, say, wiring, flooding because it rained too much, or bird flying into a window and shattering it) - are covered by the homeowner's insurance. In any case, talk to your insurance agent about your specific policy and concerns. You need to get some thing called landlord insurance, tenants only covers his belongings. Any property damage caused deliberately or unknowingly is not covered in this, its upon the owner to get landlord insurance.
Remember this when you rent. You may get 1,600 back - however, you have to provide insurance on the house still, 10% of that rent goes into a repair fund for things that break. You don't get compensated for months without a renter. You still pay property tax and income tax. If you have someone manage the house, you have to pay their fee (10%+ usually). Lots of variables when renting (I looked into doing the same thing) "I'd say your tenant is out $750, not you. How you handle it is totally personal preference.  If you want to be the super-nice landlord and eat the loss this one time, then you might gain some karma and hopefully they'll be awesome tenants for the remainder of their stay. Are they the kind of tenants you want to be nice to because they deserve it?  You (and she) have no way to prove she ever actually tried to pay you. Sound like she is learning a $750 lesson. ""Don't leave cash in a mailbox, and always get a receipt for rent paid."" Your insurance company would likely not pay out as it'd be below a typical deductible and you can't really prove the money ever existed. You'd be better off just taking the loss.  Think about it this way: How would you expect a bank or utility company to respond to this situation? ""Yeah, I left my mortgage as a cash-filled envelope on your doorstep. You didn't get it? I told you I'd do it!"" Guess who's paying double mortgage and a late fee?  You're not stuck with option 1, you're choosing to do it. She could refuse and fight you on it, which might not be worth the headache and potential small-claims court. But you're entitled to receive the rent and she is obligated to pay it. And ""paying it"" means making sure you actually receive it." I would not do this personally for most house items, since I really view them as consumables. I am using household items until they wear out, not placing my money in an investment that needs to retain or return value.  If you have any investment-like items, or if the value represents a significant (you decide this) portion of your annual income or net worth, then track it with inventory and schedule it on an insurance policy. If your home is destroyed and you have an inaccurate inventory or no   inventory at all, what does insurance provide for replacement of   property?  Maybe more importantly, will insurance even care about your   own personal inventory? (Isn't it easy to scam, through value   inflation?) For insurance, you need to start with the details of your homeowners policy. Often there will be a general blanket amount of what they will reimburse. If you have items over that amount, or need more coverage, you will need to schedule the items up-front with insurance. This way, the value of expensive items are known and agreed on by all parties before an event. It ensures a quick claim resolution, and it is the cleanest and easiest way to deal with the insurance company.  You need to talk to your agent about the unique aspects of your policy. You need to make sure the policy will cover your liabilities. "Title insurance protects you from losing rights to your property in case of a court decision. Let's look at an example I recently found in local newspapers. One old woman sold her apartment to person A. The deed was attested by a notary public who verified that indeed in was that old woman putting her signature on the deed. Then person A sold the apartment to person B, etc, then after several deals some unfortunate Buyer bought that apartment. The deal looked allright, so he's got a mortgage to pay for the apartment. Later it turned out that the old lady died three months before she ""sold"" the apartment and the notary public was corrupt. Old lady's heirs filed a lawsuit and the deal was void. So the ultimate Buyer lost all rights to the apartment although he purchased it legally. This is the case when title insurance kicks in. You need one if there's a chance for a deal to be deemed void." "In the United States if the person insures an article and then claims a loss of that article, the insurance replaces the missing/destroyed article. If later on the item is found the original is owned by the insurance company. The person who purchased the policy doesn't get to keep both.  Of course if the item was so valuable to be priceless the insurance company would be open to an exchange of items or money.  But if they suspect fraud...then it becomes a legal matter. Even when a life isn't involved it can be a source of dispute: http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/news/spencer/spencers-art-law-journal5-7-10.asp INSURED V. INSURER: WHEN STOLEN ART IS RECOVERED, WHO OWNS IT? Kenneth S. Levine  This essay is about the word ""subrogation,"" which frequently appears   in insurance policies. An insured painting is stolen and the insurance   company pays the owner’s claim for the value of the painting. Many   years later, when the painting is recovered, its value is many times   what it was when the insurance claim was paid. The insurance company   takes the position that it owns the painting, while the owner says I   own the painting, less the value of the insurance proceeds received.   The resolution of this dispute depends on the meaning of the word   ""subrogation"" in the insurance policy. When life insurance is involved, the item being replace is the lost stream of income. The question of returning money and how much would be a legal issue. They would also want to know if there was fraud, and who was involved." "I don't know what country you live in or what the laws and practical circumstances of owning rental property there are. But I own a rental property in the U.S., and I can tell you that there are a lot of headaches that go with it. One: Maintenance. You say you have to pay an annual fee of 2,400 for ""building maintenance"". Does that cover all maintenance to the unit or only the exterior? I mean, here in the U.S. if you own a condo (we call a unit like you describe a ""condo"" -- if you rent it, it's an apartment; if you own it, it's a condo) you typically pay an annual fee that cover maintenance ""from the walls out"", that is, it covers maintenance to the exterior of the building, the parking lot, any common recreational areas like a swimming pool, etc. But it doesn't cover interior maintenance. If there's a problem with interior wiring or plumbing or the carpet needs to be replaced or the place needs painting, that's up to you.  With a rental unit, those expenses can be substantial. On my rental property, sure, most months the maintenance is zero: things don't break every month. But if the furnace needs to be replaced or there's a major plumbing problem, it can cost thousands. And you can get hit with lots of nitnoid expenses. While my place was vacant I turned the water heater down to save on utility expenses. Then a tenant moved in and complained that the water heater didn't work. We sent a plumber out who quickly figured out that she didn't realize she had to turn the knob up. Then of course he had to hang around while the water heated up to make sure that was all it was. It cost me, umm, I think $170 to have someone turn that knob. (But I probably saved over $15 on the gas bill by turning it down for the couple of months the place was empty!) Two: What happens when you get a bad tenant? Here in the U.S., theoretically you only have to give 3 days notice to evict a tenant who damages the property or fails to pay the rent. But in practice, they don't leave. Then you have to go to court to get the police to throw them out. When you contact the court, they will schedule a hearing in a month or two. If your case is clear cut -- like the tenant hasn't paid the rent for two months or more -- you will win easily. Both times I've had to do this the tenant didn't even bother to show up so I won by default. So then you have a piece of paper saying the court orders them to leave. You have to wait another month or two for the police to get around to actually going to the unit and ordering them out. So say a tenant fails to pay the rent. In real life you're probably not going to evict someone for being a day or two late, but let's say you're pretty hard-nosed about it and start eviction proceedings when they're a month late. There's at least another two or three months before they're actually going to be out of the place. Of course once you send them an eviction notice they're not going to pay the rent any more. So you have to go four, five months with these people living in your property but not paying any rent. On top of that, some tenants do serious damage to the property. It's not theirs: they don't have much incentive to take care of it. If you evict someone, they may deliberately trash the place out of spite. One tenant I had to evict did over $13,000 in damage. So I'm not saying, don't rent the place out. What I am saying is, be sure to include all your real costs in your calculation. Think of all the things that could go wrong as well as all the things that could go right." You're trading a fixed liability for an unknown liability. When I graduated from college, I bought a nice used car. Two days later, a deer came out of nowhere, and I hit it going 70 mph on a highway. The damage? $4,500. If I didn't have comprehensive insurance, that would have been a real hit to me financially. For me, I'd rather just pay the modest cost for the comprehensive. "Ok sure, your homeowners insurance now includes all those things. Floods, hurricanes, terrorism... its also now twice the price. You're on /r/finance, not /r/politics. You should understand that you pay a premium for every risk that you off-lay. It is well known that basic homeowners insurance does not cover floods. If you want it, you can get it. Most people in a non flood-prone area will say, ""I'm willing to take that risk, I'll save $500/yr and not get it"". Would you rather the government just force you to get it?  You just complained about Auto Insurance ""forcing"" you to get uninsured driving insurance. You can't have it both ways." Unless it is in the contract that you must replace it then this should be replaced by your insurance. They sent you a box that was defective, consumer grade electronics are designed for at least 85 deg C (185F) and unless they can prove your car was hotter than that they sent you a defective unit.  That being said, I do not think it would be worth suing them for that low amount, I would suggest you get a new insurance company. The current company clearly values your business less than 185 pounds(?) and this issue will happen multiple times since the company has no incentive to buy better products if customers keep footing the bill. How are home insurance companies going to pay for all the damage from the hurricanes? Are Allstate/Farmers/Etc. required to keep enough money liquid to pay 100+ billion in claims? Google results are  littered with angry articles related to healthcare companies, I'm struggling to find a legitimate answer on home insurance. Can you afford to replace your home if it suffers major damage in a fire or earthquake?  Is your home at risk of flooding?  In the United States, one can purchase insurance for each of these risks, but the customer has to ask about each of them.  (Most default American homeowners policies cover fire and wind damage, but not earthquake or flooding.  I am not sure about hurricane or tornado damage.) Your most cost-effective insurance against fire, earthquake, or flood damage is to prevent or minimize such damage.  Practical measures cannot completely eliminate these risks, so homeowners' insurance is still a good idea (unless you are so rich you can easily afford to replace your home).  But you can do things like: Your most cost-effective health insurance is to have clean water, wash your hands before handling food, eat healthily (including enough protein, vitamins, and minerals), exercise regularly, and not smoke.  Your medical insurance can cover some of the inevitable large medical expenses, but cannot make you healthy. "At fault doesn't mean negligent... If a driver were doing 150 on the wrong side of the street and gets in an accident, no insurer is paying that out.  Likewise a credit agency not properly handling sensitive info and not giving proper disclosures of a breach won't lead to an insurance policy giving them a dime.  I'd say google ""does insurance cover negligence,"" but you should probably Google the definition of negligence first.  What your saying and the links you've provided clearly shows you don't even know what that word means." The company provides the best motorbike services center in Florida. While protection is an aggregate misfortune protection strategy, that will pay the distinction of the sum your cruise insurance agency pay's you for an aggregate misfortune on your bike and the estimation of your bike credit. Is it true that you are acquiring a utilized cruiser or Henderson motorcycles? On the off chance that so there is presumably impossible for you to buy hole protection on the grounds that most hole protection strategies are just great on fresh out of the box new motorcycle. "There is a term for this. If you google ""House Hacking"" you will get lots of articles and advice.  Some of it will pertain to multifamily properties but a good amount should be owner occupied and renting bedrooms. I would play with a mortgage calculator like Whats My Payment.  Include Principle, interest, taxes and insurance see how much it will cost.  At 110k your monthly fixed payments will depend on a number of factors (down payment, interest, real estate tax rate and insurance cost) but $700-$1000 would be a decent guess in my area.  Going off that with two roommates willing to pay $500 a month you would have no living expenses except any maintenance or utilities.  With your income I would expect you could make the payment alone if needed (and it may be needed) so it seems fairly low risk from my perspective. You need somewhere to live you are used to roommates and you can pay the entire cost yourself in a worst case. Some more things to consider.. Insurance will be more expensive, you want to ensure you as the landlord you are covered if anything happens.  If a tenant burns down your house or trips and falls and decides to sue you insurance will protect you.   Capital Expenses (CapEx) replacing things as they wear out. On a home the roof, siding, flooring and all mechanicals(furnace, water heater, etc.) have a lifespan and will need to be replaced.  On rental properties a portion of rent should be set aside to replace these things in the future.  If a roof lasts 20yrs,costs $8,000 and your roof is 10years old you should be setting aside $70 a month so in the  future when this know expense comes up it is not a hardship. Taxes Yes there is a special way to report income from an arrangement like this.  You will fill out a Schedule E form in addition to your regular tax documents. You will also be able to write off a percent of housing expenses and depreciation on the home.  I have been told it is not a simple tax situation and to consult a CPA that specializes in real estate." "You have to realize that you're trying to have your cake and eat it too.  You want to do things ""unofficially"" by not reporting the accident (to insurance companies and/or police), but you want to do it ""officially"" in that you want to have legal recourse if they try to hit you up for more money.  The only way to have it both ways is to trust the other person. From a financial perspective, ultimately you need to decide if the monetary cost of your raised insurance premiums, etc., outweighs the cost of whatever money the other party in the accident will try to squeeze out of you (factoring in the likelihood that they will do so).  You also would need to factor in the likelihood that, rather than trying to scam you, they'll pursue legal action against you. In short, from a purely monetary perspective, if the legitimate cost of repairs is $700 and the cost to you of doing it by the book via insurance is $2000, you should be willing to be scammed for up to $1300, because you'll still come out ahead.  Of course, there are psychological considerations, like whether someone unscrupulous enough to scam you will stop at $1300.  But those numbers are the baseline for whatever outcome calculations you want to do. On the more qualitative side of things, it is possible they're trying to scam you, but also possible they're just trying to hustle you into doing everything quickly without thinking about it.  They may not be trying to gouge you monetarily, they just want to pressure you so they get their money.  I agree with other answerers here that the ideal way would be for them to send you an actual bill after repairs are complete.  However, you could ask them to send you a written copy of the repair shop estimate, along with a written letter in which they state that they will consider payment of that amount to resolve the issue and won't pursue you further.  The legal strength of that is dubious, but at least you have some documentation that you didn't just try to stiff them.  If they won't give you some form of written documentation, I would read that as a red flag, bite the bullet, and contact your insurance company."