Lemonade renters insurance covers four things: your personal belongings when they’re damaged or stolen by a named peril, your legal liability if you accidentally hurt someone or damage their property, medical bills for guests injured in your home, and the extra cost of living somewhere else if a covered event makes your rental unlivable. Policies are HO4 contracts sold through the Lemonade app, starting at $5 per month and averaging around $16.1Lemonade. How Much Renters Insurance Actually Costs The details below are where the policy helps you, and where it stops.
Your Belongings
Personal property coverage pays to repair or replace your things when they’re damaged, destroyed, or stolen by a listed cause. The named perils include fire, lightning, windstorm, hail, explosion, smoke, vandalism, theft, riots, falling objects, the weight of ice or snow, accidental discharge of water or steam, freezing pipes, sudden electrical damage, damage from aircraft or vehicles, and volcanic eruption.2Lemonade. Named Perils Covered items run from furniture and clothing to electronics and kitchen appliances.
You pick a coverage limit between $10,000 and $250,000, with the base policy starting at $10,000.3Lemonade. Personal Property Lemonade suggests estimating the replacement value of what you own and rounding up to the next $10,000. Claims are paid at replacement cost by default, so there’s no depreciation deduction when something old is destroyed.4U.S. News & World Report. 8 Steps to Evaluate a Renters Insurance Policy Before Signing
Sub-Limits You Should Know About
Some categories carry caps well below your overall limit. Stolen cash and cryptocurrency are covered up to $200. Jewelry taken by theft is capped at $1,500 unless you schedule the piece individually under Extra Coverage.5Lemonade. What Is Renters Insurance and What’s Covered6Lemonade. Does Homeowners Insurance Cover Electronics7Lemonade. Misconceptions About Renters Insurance
Theft Away From Home
Theft protection follows your belongings outside the apartment. A laptop stolen at a coffee shop, luggage taken from a hotel room, or items swiped from inside a car are covered up to the personal property limit, less your deductible.8Lemonade. Does Renters Insurance Cover Theft Stolen porch packages are also covered when their value exceeds your deductible.9Lemonade. Does Renters Insurance Cover Stolen Packages Claims can be denied if negligence caused the theft, such as leaving a bike unlocked or keys in the door, and a police report is typically required.
Lemonade separates losing something from having it stolen. A lost wallet isn’t covered. A stolen one is, with up to $200 in cash, up to $500 in unauthorized credit card charges, and the cost of replacing documents like a passport or driver’s license.10Lemonade. Lost Wallet
Liability and Guest Medical Bills
Liability coverage steps in if you accidentally injure someone or damage their property. A guest slipping on your wet floor, or you breaking an expensive item at a friend’s place, falls here, and the policy pays medical bills, legal fees, and settlements.11Lemonade. Personal Liability Injuries caused by your pet are included too, though dogs with a bite history may face restrictions in some states.
The default liability limit is $100,000 per claim, raisable to $1,000,000.12Lemonade. How Much Renters Insurance Do I Need13MarketWatch. Lemonade Renters Insurance Review It does not apply to intentional damage, vehicle-related incidents, business activities, or injuries to you or anyone else named on the policy.11Lemonade. Personal Liability Liability does extend to limited damage you cause to the rental unit itself, but only from fire, smoke, or explosion.
A separate medical payments provision handles smaller guest injuries without a lawsuit and without regard to fault, with limits between $1,000 and $5,000.12Lemonade. How Much Renters Insurance Do I Need
Living Expenses If Your Rental Becomes Unlivable
Loss of use pays the extra costs of living elsewhere while your home is repaired after a covered peril, like a fire or burst pipe. That covers hotel or Airbnb stays, higher restaurant bills, laundry, temporary storage, moving costs, parking, and pet boarding.14Lemonade. Loss of Use
The word to focus on is “additional.” If your rent is $800 and the hotel is $1,100, the policy pays the $300 difference, not the full bill.15Lemonade. Does Renters Insurance Cover Hotel Stays Coverage lasts up to 24 months or until the home is livable, whichever comes first. The dollar cap defaults to a percentage of your personal property amount and can range from $3,000 to $200,000.12Lemonade. How Much Renters Insurance Do I Need If a government authority blocks access to your home because of a nearby covered peril such as wildfire, coverage generally lasts up to 14 days.14Lemonade. Loss of Use
Where Water Damage Starts and Stops
Water is the area where coverage is most often misunderstood. Lemonade covers sudden and accidental water events: burst pipes, overflowing toilets, leaking washing machines, and ceiling leaks from sudden roof damage.16Lemonade. Does Renters Insurance Cover Water Damage Pipes that freeze and burst are included as long as you kept reasonable heat in the home.17Lemonade. Does Renters Insurance Cover Natural Disasters
Outside flooding from weather, storm surges, groundwater, and sewer or sump pump backups are excluded from the standard policy.16Lemonade. Does Renters Insurance Cover Water Damage Flood damage requires a separate flood policy, such as one through the National Flood Insurance Program. A water backup endorsement is available in some states and covers up to $10,000 in personal property damage from backed-up drains or sewers.18Forbes. Lemonade Renters Insurance Review Damage from neglected maintenance, like ignoring a persistent drip, isn’t covered.
What a Standard Policy Does Not Cover
- Earthquakes, which are excluded from the base policy but available as an add-on in some states, including California and Arkansas.19U.S. News & World Report. What Renters Insurance Policies Commonly Exclude
- Damage from pests such as mice, rats, ants, or bed bugs.
- Damage your pet causes to the rental unit, unless you add the tenant pet damage endorsement.
- Your roommate’s belongings. Only the named insured and anyone added to the policy are covered.
- The building itself, which is the landlord’s responsibility.
- Your car, car parts, or damage to or theft of a vehicle, which falls under auto insurance.
- Any loss you cause on purpose.
- War, nuclear hazards, and government action.
- Property used for business, and incidents during short-term rentals like Airbnb.5Lemonade. What Is Renters Insurance and What’s Covered20Lemonade. Insurance Exclusion
Mold is generally excluded unless it results from a sudden, covered event like a burst pipe. Appliance breakdowns from normal wear and tear are also excluded unless you add equipment breakdown coverage.5Lemonade. What Is Renters Insurance and What’s Covered
Add-Ons That Fill the Gaps
Extra Coverage (Scheduled Personal Property)
For high-value items like jewelry, fine art, cameras, bicycles, and musical instruments, scheduling the item individually removes the category sub-limit, eliminates the deductible on that item, and adds protection for accidental damage and mysterious disappearance, none of which the base policy covers.21Lemonade. Scheduled Personal Property Coverage Phones, drones, and sunglasses aren’t eligible to schedule.
Equipment Breakdown
This endorsement covers mechanical or electrical failure of appliances and electronics, including HVAC, refrigerators, washers, dryers, computers, and smart home devices, up to $100,000 per claim with a $500 deductible, plus up to $10,000 for food spoilage from an appliance failure. It runs around $2 per month for renters. Availability is limited to certain states, including Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin.22Lemonade. Equipment Breakdown Coverage
Tenant Pet Damage
This add-on covers up to $500 per year for pet-caused damage to the landlord’s property, such as scratched floors or chewed doors, after the security deposit is applied. Pet urine damage isn’t included. The endorsement is available in most states, but not in New York, Indiana, Washington, or Florida.23Lemonade. Renters Insurance and Pets24Lemonade. Does Renters Insurance Cover Carpet Damage
Other Endorsements
You can also add water backup coverage for sewer and drain incidents (up to $10,000), earthquake coverage in select states, a portable electronics endorsement that raises that sub-limit to $6,000, and an unmarried partner as an additional insured so their belongings and liability sit under the same policy.18Forbes. Lemonade Renters Insurance Review25Lemonade. Who Does Your Policy Cover Lemonade notes that in many cases it’s cheaper for an unmarried partner to buy their own policy.
Where You Can Buy It
Lemonade renters insurance is sold in roughly 38 to 41 U.S. states plus Washington, D.C., depending on the source. It is generally not available in Alaska, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, or Maine, among a handful of other states.26U.S. News & World Report. Lemonade vs. State Farm Availability of specific add-ons like equipment breakdown or earthquake varies state by state as well, so what the policy covers in one place isn’t always what it covers in another. Your rate depends on your location, the limits you choose, your deductible ($250, $500, $1,000, or $2,500), claims history, credit score where state law allows, and whether your home has safety features like smoke alarms.13MarketWatch. Lemonade Renters Insurance Review