by Brian Cody

Created on: June 19, 2009   Last Updated: February 09, 2011

The following tale is a true story. The names of the renters involved have been changed to protect their privacy.

I am a landlord who had owned a 5 family multi-unit property in the South eastern part of Massachusetts for over 12 years. As part of my introduction and review of our leases with our tenants, I would always promote the use of renters insurance for our tenants. When I reviewed the terms of the apartment lease I would inform the tenants that my property insurance does not cover the tenants storage, or replacement cost of the tenants personal property. That included loss due to theft, damage, weather, water, fire, vandalism. The final sentence in the section that dealt with renter coverage, stated that the renters could store their belongings on our property at their own risk. I would encourage tenants to obtain renters insurance coverage at their own cost.

One of our tenants that we rented our first floor front unit too was a married couple. We performed a reference check and a credit check on the prospective tenants and those checks came back fine.

I will call the husband Joe and the wife Mary. Joe was in the construction trades and Mary was a stay at home wife. Joe had agreed to assistance with the maintenance of our rental property. He agreed to cut the grass and trim the bushes in the spring, summer, and fall. During the winter he agreed to shovel the walk ways. We gave him a break on his monthly rent and he always paid the rent on time.

It turned out that Joe's wife Mary had a bi-polar disorder. It was common for her to stop taking her medications and refuse to take them. During these periods Mary would have Joe arrested by the police and throw him out of the apartment. The apartment lease was in Joe's name only. She would also get a restraining order against Joe.

The furniture and Joe's belongings would then be destroyed and vandalised. The amount of the damages and vandalism would be around $7,000 to $10,000 dollars. Joe and Mary would go to marriage and therapy counseling and get back together. Then Joe would move back into the apartment. During those periods Joe would still be paying the rent on time and doing the maintenance on our property.

All would be quiet at the property between Joe and Mary. Until 6 to 8 months later Mary would stop taking her medications and Joe would be thrown out again. The new furniture that Joe had purchased would be vandalized and destroyed again.

Unfortunately for Joe his renters insurance coverage did not

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