Location: North Carolina
Hi all, my boyfriend moved in with me a few months ago and was formally on the lease for our apartment building. I forgot to add him to the renter's insurance policy after I said I would, and he never got his own. Our lease ends at the end of April, but the apartment has emailed him recently saying that they have conducted an audit and noted he does not have insurance.
My question is – what are the potential reprocussions of this? The letter had stated a potential fine but the lease does not classify what it is. The lease just says that renters insurance is required, to which the apartment is insured through my policy, just not with his name on it.
We have already signed a new lease elsewhere so I'm not concerned of being evicted per say, but do not want this to effect us down the future.
I am aware this is an oversight on our part and he is on the insurance on our new place already. Any advice or insight would be helpful in advance. Thank you!
Renters Insurance Lapse
byu/Background_Table3201 inInsurance
Posted by Background_Table3201
5 Comments
Extremely minor deal with no long-term implications, provided you don’t file a claim. Just go have a two minute conversation with your property manager – this isn’t in the top five biggest issues they’ll deal with today. If you’re worried about it, just update the policy for two weeks.
So you had a renters policy the whole time? If so, I’d tell the landlord to kick rocks as there’s no reason to have two policies on one apartment. Insurance-wise, this is a non-issue.
>the apartment is insured through my policy, just not with his name on it.
that’s not exactly what is going on. the insurance your landlord requires is liability insurance to repair the building if you negligently damage it. for instance if you start a grease fire and burn half the building, your renters insurance assures the landlord that they can get paid back. if your boyfriend, who is not your spouse, starts the fire, your policy will not cover his liability. the other component is that a landlord could face claims that they were negligent in renting to someone who caused the damage, and the landlord might want your policy to protect them for any claims against them which primarily arise from the tenant’s negligence.
as for the particulars of the fee, you would need to consult with your landlord about how much it is and where the justification is for it in the lease. usually leases allow the landlord to purchase insurance to protect their interests and pass the fee onto the tenant.
prob just a fee or warning. doesn’t usually follow u long term. since ur leaving soon, i wouldn’t stress unless they hit u with a charge
If the lease does not explicitly grant him the power to impose fines then he has no authority to fine you. He has the power to initiate the eviction process for violating the lease but that will take far longer than the 16 days left in April.