Protecting Renters Across The Bluegrass State With Kentucky Renters Insurance
- Kentucky has more renters than you might expect.
- Kentucky also boasts several large cities, including those that support military.
More than four million people live in Kentucky. A little over three hundred thousand of them live in apartments, and several thousand more live in other rented arrangements. Throughout the Bluegrass State, renting a home is a popular choice. Much of the state is rural and punctuated by long parkways with few services offering beautiful unobstructed views. But did you know that several large Kentucky cities have concentrated numbers of renters? Louisville is the largest, with 600,000 people covering 340 square miles. It’s also known for the Kentucky Derby, of course.
Lexington is only about half the size of Louisville, but has much to offer renters. UKY is located here, along with their well-known basketball team boasting both the most all-time wins and the highest all-time win percentage. Bowling Green, home of Chevrolet Corvette production, offers jobs and opportunity to renters, though it’s a much smaller city. Owensboro and Covington are smaller cities yet, but Covington sits just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. Other smaller cities in Kentucky are also popular with renters, such as Hopkinsville, Richmond, Florence, and Georgetown.
No matter where you choose to rent your home in Kentucky, protecting it should be the first thing on your mind. The best way to protect your home and your family is with Kentucky renters insurance from Effective Coverage.
- Many renters in Kentucky don’t know they’re entitled to coverage.
- Some renters make assumptions about the cost of renters insurance in Kentucky, but never get a quote.
That’s why Effective Coverage works to increase the number of insured renters. Currently, only about forty-four percent of renters have coverage. That leaves fifty-six percent of them exposed to liability, fire, theft, vandalism, and many other risks that a cheap renters policy would protect them from.
Our mission is providing solutions for those buying and requiring insurance, because insurance is our world, and we want you to get back to yours. You can buy a policy online in just sixty seconds, or call and speak with a friendly insurance expert who can help you choose coverage. That’s why we’re The Smart Way To Insure Your Home for Kentucky residents.
For landlords, Effective Coverage offers a number of efficient solutions for tracking renters insurance compliance in Kentucky. Whether you want residents without insurance to pay into a fund for uninsured losses, or you just want to make sure everyone complies with the requirements of the lease and maintains coverage, we make it easy.
Landlords in Kentucky can be listed as additional interest and made aware of changes in the status of their residents’ policies without ever opening another piece of mail from an insurance company. The Effective Coverage processing center handles these notifications and updates the policy status. All you have to do is look at your screen to see who’s covered.
Whether you need renters insurance in Kentucky or you need affordable Kentucky insurance certificate tracking solutions, Effective Coverage has the answers. We make it easy and let you get back to the rest of your life. We’re easy to reach, online, by web chat, or by calling a friendly insurance expert at (800)892-4308.
2017 Kentucky Renters Insurance Guide Table Of Contents
- Why Is Kentucky Renters Insurance Important?
- What Should I Know About Kentucky Renters Insurance In 2017?
- Can I Afford Renters Insurance?
- What's Covered On Kentucky Renters Insurance In 2017?
- What Is Liability On Kentucky Renters Insurance?
- Kentucky Renters Insurance Fast Facts
- Bonus Section: 2017 Guide To Renting In Kentucky
Why Is Kentucky Renters Insurance Important?
- Most landlords require renters insurance in Kentucky.
- Many Americans live paycheck to paycheck. Even a small loss can be devastating.
Kentucky renters insurance is important in 2017 for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, your landlord likely requires you to have a policy. That’s quite standard in professionally managed communities and even for private landlords. The good news is that if you already have a policy, you look like a better risk when you apply for an apartment because you’ve taken responsibility for protecting yourself and your family.
Many people who rent in Kentucky are just scraping by. Your renters insurance isn’t just to replace your stuff or cover liability. It also has the ability to pay for additional living expenses when they’re the result of a covered loss. If you have a fire or another covered loss and you can’t use your home as a result, additional living expense coverage kicks in to pay for a hotel. You might be willing to sleep in your car for a few days, but what about your kids? Additional living expenses coverage helps you to maintain your standard of living without having to dig into your own pocket to pay for it.
Even if you’re doing well, very few people can afford to replace their personal property after a significant loss. You wouldn’t have bought the property in the first place if you didn’t need it, so why not protect it? Many people need to wear professional attire to work, but are not flush with cash. After a fire or smoke damage, could you replace your wardrobe without any notice, so that you could go to work?
What Should I Know About Kentucky Renters Insurance In 2017?
There are a few things you should know about renters insurance in 2017 that aren’t necessarily spelled out on the declarations page. You should read your entire policy and any endorsements, of course, to make sure you understand what’s covered. Ultimately, you as the insured are responsible for knowing what’s covered, regardless of any verbal statements to the contrary.
If you have animals of any kind, you need to specifically ask about animal liability. Dogs are frequently excluded or may require an additional endorsement with some underwriters. Specific breeds of dogs may be more difficult to insure in some areas. Cats are generally not problematic, but other types of animals could be. Keep in mind that animal liability coverage is for sudden and accidental losses, like a bite or a scratch. It’s not for damage that the animal does to the rented premises. Those losses are almost never sudden and accidental, usually occurring over a long period of time.
If you have jewelry of significant value, speak with your insurance expert about making sure it’s covered. Our Renters Insurance Jewelry Coverage Guide offers basic guidance, and your insurance expert can tell you more. While the limits may vary between policies, there is always a sublimit for jewelry on Kentucky renters insurance unless you endorse other coverage onto the policy or buy a floater policy to cover the jewelry.
Firearms are another class of property that may have a sublimit. If you have firearms that are valuable, you’ll want to discuss this with your Effective Coverage Kentucky renters insurance expert, as well. Adding coverage for the guns is often quite affordable. While guns can be used for home defense, many people collect antique firearms or have other considerations that make insurance a good idea. You want to protect all of your property, not just what’s in your hand in a worst case scenario.
Can I Afford Renters Insurance?
- Anyone can afford renters insurance.
- The national average price of renters insurance is $187.00 a year.
- Your policy protects you from your negligence and also from losses caused by neighbors.
Yes, you can afford renters insurance! Renters insurance in Kentucky is actually less expensive than in many other states. The national average is $187.00 a year, or about fifteen dollars a month. That’s not much money, but you get a great deal of value for it. Remember that insurance is a contract. If you have a basic policy with $15,000 of personal property coverage, your insurance company is agreeing to pay for up to $15,000 of your property that is damaged by something on the long list of covered perils. Your end of the bargain is simply paying the premium, being honest, and reporting a loss promptly.
Renters insurance isn’t just a hedge against the risk of “life” happening. When you live in an apartment, you’re also at risk from things that happen to other people near your unit, or losses that other people cause. Your furniture will be damaged by smoke (a covered peril) just as easily if your neighbor as a fire as if you have a fire. You can’t control what goes on around you in other apartments, but you can control how you’ll be able to respond when a loss does occur. Being covered is the least expensive way to make sure that someone else’s problem doesn’t become your problem.
As a matter of fact, some people simply keep a change jar by the door and put their change in it every night. Over the course of each month, they end up with more than fifteen dollars in it. That lets them pay for the policy and enforces a small savings habit with the extra, which is never a bad thing for anyone.
What's Covered On Kentucky Renters Insurance In 2017?
As far as personal property goes, your policy pays the replacement cost for your property that suffers a covered loss. Fire, theft, and vandalism are common examples, but falling objects and automobiles you do not own are on the list as well. We’ve all heard at least one horror story about a drunk driver careening through a home in the middle of the night.
Usually the residents aren’t injured, but there’s significant damage to the home and to the personal property in it. The home is your landlord’s responsibility, and he’ll take that up with the driver’s insurance. But once that happens, there likely won’t be much left of the driver’s insurance to pay for your property. That vehicle would be a covered loss, if it came through your front window.
Personal property includes the things you own. That could range from pots and pans to clothes to expensive furniture that you just purchased for your new home. It generally includes tablets and other electronics, though not the data on them. Your laptop could be replaced if it suffered a covered loss, but your doctoral dissertation would not be. Fortunately, that’s why we have backups.
In 2017, Kentucky renters insurance covers more than ever because the average personal property that someone owns is more valuable than ever before. People own more electronics, and there are even tablets and cell phones for kids. Speaking of kids, all those expensive toys are personal property and would be covered in a fire or burst pipe scenario as well.
Jewelry, guns, and cash are restricted classes of property on your policy. There is a sublimit for loss by theft of those types of property. You can increase that limit with an endorsement or a separate floater policy, but you have to make sure to mention that you own them so they can be covered properly. In some cases, an appraisal is required. In other cases, maintaining photographs and a description of the items somewhere in the cloud is sufficient. Your insurance expert can tell you more about how to get the right coverage for your valuables, and make sure to take a look at our Renters Insurance Jewlery Coverage Guide as well.
But renters insurance covers so much more than just your personal property. You have coverage for loss of use and medical payments to others, damage to property of others, and a number of other types of coverage. But the one people are most concerned about, and the risk that can ruin an entire family’s lives, is liability. Your policy covers liability because it’s a large enough risk that almost no one could absorb it out of their own pocket.
What is liability? Read on…
What Is Liability On Kentucky Renters Insurance?
Liability is your financial responsibility for bodily injury or property damage that you cause to someone else by being negligent. Actually, liability can arise from a wide variety of sources and events but renters insurance in Kentucky speaks to those two instances. It doesn’t matter if the loss is caused to a natural person or a company – you’re still responsible, and the policy is still there to protect you.
Renters insurance liability coverage includes two main components. The first is that the policy will pay for an attorney to defend you against a claim or suit asking for money due to your liability. Most people can’t afford a lawyer for even a small matter, and a lawsuit or liability claim could become a long and drawn-out matter. The insurance company’s duty to defend prevents the company from paying for claims that aren’t legitimate, but would be lost because the defendant just can’t afford a lawyer. Any costs spent on defending you are separate from the limits of the policy – this is called “defense outside the policy limits.” Even if defending the claim costs a great deal of money, it doesn’t impact how much money the policy will pay for the claim if or when you are found to be responsible to pay it.
After defending the claim, your policy will pay for the costs of the bodily injury or property damage that your negligence caused. In some situations, it’s just a question of what the actual cost is because liability is clear. In other situations, the claim may require defense because the amount for which you are liable isn’t the only question. You might have to be proven to be responsible in the first place. Either way, the policy pays up to the policy limits, generally at least $100,000, for that loss. The insurance company may settle the claim earlier if it’s prudent, as well.
Whether you spill your coffee on someone or find yourself responsible for a kitchen fire that seriously damages the building you live in, there is liability. You’re responsible for those damages. Liability coverage on your Kentucky renters insurance defends you against that claim and pays it only if you’re responsible to pay it. In the kitchen fire example, perhaps the gas stove was faulty and your negligence didn’t actually cause the fire. Defense prevents you from being responsible for damages you didn’t cause.
Kentucky Renters Insurance Fast Facts
- The average price of renters insurance in Kentucky is about fifteen dollars a month.
- Renters insurance in Kentucky is a common requirement of most landlords.
- The average fire loss per structure is $20,700 according to the NFPA.
- Just because someone has insurance for the damage you cause doesn’t make you not liable. Their insurance company can sue you for the money they paid to cover the loss. Your policy defends you and pays for the loss up to the policy limit, if you’re liable.
- Renters insurance protects you from liability risk, risk to your personal property, and costs incurred following a covered loss
Bonus Section: 2017 Guide To Renting In Kentucky
Finding An Apartment In Kentucky
Finding an apartment in Kentucky is much easier in the larger cities. Louisville, Lexington, Bowling Green, Owensboro, and even Covington and Hopkinsville have thriving rental markets. For its size, Hopkinsville offers more rentals than you might expect due to the nearby presence of Fort Campbell. The size of the city you’re looking for housing in will determine how far outside of the city itself you can go and still find a reasonable number of apartments. In Louisville, you can go fairly far out into the suburbs and still have luck with rentals. On the other hand, if you go fifteen miles north of Hopkinsville, you’ll find some lovely vistas on the trip, but precious few apartments until you get all the way up towards Henderson, on the other state line.
Many landlords in Kentucky are willing to overlook some minor concerns with your previous credit or rental history, as long as you have a good explanation. In some cases, you can offer lease terms that are more beneficial to the landlord in order to get into an apartment and improve your rental history. That’s not usually possible in apartment complexes, but private landlords are often more flexible.
Many private landlords will advertise with for rent signs rather than on the internet. This means that you have to actually spend time in the neighborhoods that you want to live in. It also means that you’ll have to pick up the phone and actually call these landlords to schedule a showing of the apartment. Emails, texts, and online forms are not often methods employed by smaller landlords.
Kentucky Tenant Rights
Kentucky offers tenant rights that are well-considered. While more limited than in states such as California, they strike a balance between protecting tenants and protecting landlords. When you move in, you and the landlord must complete a checklist before the landlord can collect a security deposit. This helps to prevent concerns about whether damage was already present when you moved in. The landlord also has to advise you, either verbally or by written notice, where your security deposit is being held and the account number.
As briefly noted above, there is no limit as to how much of a security deposit a landlord in Kentucky can collect. This gives you additional flexibility in overcoming past challenges if you’re able to offer additional security. You can rest easy in doing so, since you know where the money will be held and you know that the landlord must return it within 30 to 60 days, depending if there are deductions.
If there’s a problem, your recourse is generally small claims court for any amount up to $2,500. Landlords must give at least 30 days notice before raising the rent, and there is a seven-day period for you to pay rent before the landlord may file against you. If there is something wrong with your apartment that impacts health or safety, and the landlord has refused to remedy it, you may engage in “repair and deduct.” There are specific rules surrounding this, so make sure to research the statutes and preferably consult an attorney first.
Most people love living in Kentucky, so once you’ve found the perfect home, make sure you have the perfect protection. Just call (800)892-4308 or click above to get the Kentucky renters insurance you need with easy payments and coverage you can rely on. Effective Coverage insurance experts are happy to answer your questions and help you to understand what type and amount of coverage may best fit your personal situation.
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