[quote=Balboa]Thanks everyone, and special thanks to Flu for making the call I don’t have time for! I confirms my sense of where things *should* stand.

I think I’ll get the renter’s insurance, but I am not doing the “additional insured” bit, even if I were to go with a carrier that offered it. If landlord insists, he’ll have to pony up the documents that show my non-compliance would violate my lease, i.e. raise his rates or cause him to lose coverage.

My lease also gives me the option of covering the cost of his higher premium, if there is one, instead of insuring myself. If that’s cost effective for the renter, I would be blown away.

The other thing that’s curious is whether he actually has this new carrier yet or not — if it’s the carrier that is requiring insurance and additional insured status, wouldn’t they require proof before the policy took effect?

For a law office, the language is terribly imprecise. For example, I’m pretty sure you can’t “renew” a policy with a new carrier. They could be using “additional insured” incorrectly, too.

Thanks as always! (Maybe this will be my last rental…)[/quote]

In every one of my condo’s insurance policy, there was never a requirement on my policy to require the renter has renter’s insurance before I could get insurance for my condo. As it was explained to me, two completely different policies for two different purposes. The condo policy covers the landlord’s dwelling plus his liability. The renter’s insurance cover’s the tenant’s personal belongings plus his/her liability.

In all likelihood, his insurance went up, and he probably is using this as an excuse for you to pay more for the cost of his insurance, and wants to create a pain in the ass situation so rather than you go out and get your own renter’s insurance, you just pay the additional cost he wants you to pay for his insurance…. If it was for me, I wouldn’t do it. I’d just go get my own renter’s insurance. I doubt whatever his insurance is will cover the cost of your personal belongs or cover your liability if something happens. If you’re going to be paying for insurance, you might as well spend money for insurance that benefits you, not him.