| Cut back on a couple of Happy Meals a month, roll some loose change and you should be able to afford tenant insurance.
With all the incidents of fires and apartment evacuations in the past few months in Calgary, insuring your personal property may seem like an obvious move. But for many, it is something that gets pushed to the back of the to-do list or written off altogether.
John Durocher, 37, says in his 20 years of renting he never gave insurance a second thought – that is, until recently, when his luck ran out. Durocher was one of the hundreds of residents living at Century Gardens, the 41-storey downtown building that caught fire after water from the laundry room flooded into the electrical room.
"This is the first time I’ve had any problems. It was not fun."
It may not have been fun, but it could have been worse. Fortunately, Durocher and some of the other residents were allowed to return to their apartments to retrieve some belongings before having to vacate the building for 11 days. When he and his partner hurried out of their place in the initial evacuation, a lamp had been knocked over and had already burned a large hole in the carpet by the time they returned.
"I could have lost everything that night – we just about didn’t get let back in," said Durocher.
Red Cross helped out for a few days, putting Durocher up in a hotel room with some food vouchers. After that he was placed in a vacant apartment for a week. Although grateful for the help, he says the experience still proved costly.
"It ended up costing me an extra $250 bucks, give or take…. I had to replace the groceries that were thrown out while I was gone, buy meals, pay to take the bus since I was placed far away from my job, and I spent at least $30 making phone calls to find out what was going on. Not to mention the cable and phone services I was paying for but couldn’t use."
According to Helen Barlow with AMA, a basic insurance plan for renters covers any living expenses beyond what they would usually spend in cases where people are forced to leave their apartment.
"If you have to pay to put your dogs in kennel, stay in a hotel, spend more money on food or gas – those types of things are covered."
Barlow says a basic plan with a $500 deductible covers personal property for losses and liability us to $35,000 and additional expenses for $7,000. This translates into a cost of $177 per year, or a monthly payment of $15.
Renter Juraj Pivovarov, 27, had no idea how much insurance would cost him and has no plans to look into it – even after his experience at Century Gardens.
"I am against insurance on principle – it is mostly a waste of money. I still won’t get it," he explains.
Pivovarov says although he stayed with his girlfriend, it still cost him about $40 a day in extra expenses and about $1,500 in lost wages.
"I am a consultant and work from home normally. I was able to work, but not as much as I could from home. My Internet connection wasn’t able to be restored for at least another week after I was allowed back in, either."
With most insurance packages, a loss in wages can also be claimed. Bill Jeffray with Renfrew Thompson Insurance chalks up apathy towards tenant insurance to a lack of education.
"Many people don’t know they should buy it. Either they forget or it’s just not urgent. It is one of those things where there are a lot of people who don’t seem to be aware."
Jeffray says part of it is also that renters are not forced into buying insurance, unlike homeowners, who don’t stand a chance of getting a mortgage approved without it. However, a spokesperson with Century Gardens say they are now planning to make tenant insurance a requirement for all potential residents, and that in the future a copy will have to be provided before any tenant agreement is made.
Durocher surveys his apartment. His couch smells like smoke and the burn in his living room remains. So does the telltale water stains in his carpet, a sign of what started the whole incident in the building last month.
"Somebody had put a comforter into the washing machine, but it was made of goose feathers, so the water never reached the bottom of the basin. I guess the machine didn’t receive the signal to turn the water off because of that, and it kept running and spilled out."
Durocher’s suite and the laundry room are both located on the 17th floor. The hallway and his apartment suffered water damage. He realizes that something like that could happen anytime. While he feels his apartment building has inadequate standards, he has still made no attempt to leave or insure himself.
"I am not responsible enough. I know I should have it, and it would have caused me a lot less worry had I had some.
· HO-4 (renter’s insurance) covers nothing for the building itself – it covers personal possessions in the event of: fire or lightning; windstorm or hail; explosions; civil disturbance; aircraft; vehicles; smoke; vandalism or malicious mischief; theft; broken glass; volcanic eruptions; falling objects; weight of ice, snow, sleet, accidental discharge or overflow of water; freezing; or artificially generated electrical charge.
· The liability portion of the insurance follows you – if you drop an iron in your hotel room and burn the carpet you would be insured; if your dog bites your neighbour and he sues you, insurance would cover your legal fees, etc.
· Renter’s insurance does not cover: enforcement of building codes and similar laws; earthquakes; flooding; power failure; neglect; war; nuclear hazard; or intentional acts. |
