Renter's insurance may or may not be required, depending on what the landlord decides. Whether or not you are required to buy renter's insurance, you should think about getting it if you rent an apartment, house, mobile home, condo, or town house.
When you buy renter's insurance, you should follow certain rules. For instance, a family who rents out their home shouldn't have any trouble getting renter's insurance. This is because most renter's insurance policies cover both the renter and his or her family.
But two roommates who rent together but are not related usually can't be covered by the same renter's insurance policy unless they are related, and sometimes it has to be close family. This can be where things start to get hard.
If you rent your home and your landlord requires you to buy renter's insurance, you and your roommate shouldn't have any problems. However, you and your roommate should know that you will probably have to buy two separate renter's insurance policies to cover your different sets of personal belongings. You both need to know that even if your landlord doesn't require you to buy renter's insurance, if one of you buys it anyway, the other's belongings are not covered. Both situations can change, of course, depending on whether or not the insurance company you choose to buy your renter's insurance from lets family members who rent together have one renter's insurance policy.
Before you move in together, make sure you both know the proper way to buy renter's insurance. Talk to an insurance company that sells renter's insurance to find out what you can and can't do if you want to cover more than one person on the same policy.
