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My significant other and I both have our names on the lease for our shared apartment. We are not married. She has a renter's insurance policy that she claims is enough to cover both her belongings and mine (I'm not 100% sure on this, I would have to thoroughly evaluate everything we own and verify that her policy covers all of it). Our apartment requires renter's insurance but they seemed satisfied that only one of us had a policy. Should I get my own renter's insurance policy anyway to protect myself or is this a waste of money?

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    Is your name on her policy as an insured party?
    – BrenBarn
    Aug 11, 2014 at 18:14
  • Probably not. I will have to ask her about this. Aug 11, 2014 at 18:46
  • I've rolled back the changes made to the question over the last few months, as they don't seem to provide any substantial difference to the question but made some references in the 8-year-old answer confusing.
    – chepner
    Aug 9, 2022 at 13:25
  • @chepner FWIW, my guess was that OP may have made the recent pronoun edits out of respect (even in a pseudonymous forum) for someone who's transitioned since the question was originally written.
    – nanoman
    Aug 9, 2022 at 15:47
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    I'm fine with the pronoun change; I was initially confused over the reference to "nuptials" in the answer where no such relationship was hinted in the modified question. (Maybe it was never relevant, but editing a question to invalidate an existing answer is generally frowned up.) (And I think in this case, what is a good answer for platonic roommates may not be as good for a couple in a committed relationship.)
    – chepner
    Aug 9, 2022 at 15:49

1 Answer 1

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The apartment complex is satisfied because they have a clear company to go to in case of a problem. However, this has nothing at all to do with your belongings.

Renters insurance will cover the people listed on the policy. If you aren't listed, then you and your stuff isn't covered.

It's better for you to acquire your own policy. As she has her own, you wouldn't need to include her. Once nuptials are tied (if ever) then consolidate. However, you two break it off then, well, this is one less thing to worry about.

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  • If she sets his crap on fire, she's liable in both civil and criminal courts, so I reject your worst-case scenario.
    – Jared
    Aug 15, 2014 at 15:23
  • @jared: That was the "messy" part. I'm sure that she would be found guilty/held liable. However the legal cost to the OP could exceed the value of the destroyed items. Never mind that it would take a long time. With insurance, the payout would be very quick.
    – NotMe
    Aug 15, 2014 at 15:26
  • Each renter's insurance policy will cost around $120 for the year, so it feels like it's a waste for both folks to get their own policy. Isn't it possible for both folks to chip in $60 each for the one renter's policy, and on that policy making sure both individuals are Named Insured, or one is Named Insured and the other is Additional Insured? It should be easy enough to cancel and get a refund of the unused months if anything changes mid-term.
    – jia103
    May 22, 2022 at 17:04

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