Some insurance companies let roommates purchase renters insurance together, sharing a policy’s coverages and premiums. When renting a place in Burlington, Vermont with a roommate, splitting your renters policy’s premiums with your roommate can save you money each month. If your roommate ever moves out of the apartment, condo or house you’re renting together though, make sure you take their name off of your renters policy when they leave. If they don’t, and you have to file a claim, collecting on the claim could be a challenge. 

Renters Insurance Burlington VT

If Your Roommate Leaves Burlington, Don’t Leave Their Name on Your Renters Insurance Policy

Insurance Claims Are Paid to All Policyholders

In most cases when a valid insurance claim is filed against a policy, the insurer pays the claim to all named policyholders. For instance, if a family files a claim against their homeowners policy, they may receive a check that’s made out to both the husband and wife, as they’re the policyholders. If you share a renters insurance policy with your roommate, you can expect any payments made on claims to be sent to both you and your roommate — even if they’ve moved out of your Burlington place but never removed themselves from being a policyholder.

Sharing Claim Payments Isn’t Too Difficult When Renting Together

When you’re actually sharing a space with a roommate, it’s usually not too difficult to work out who should actually receive the funds from an insurance claim. You presumably get along reasonably well with your roommate and trust them at least a little, and you two should be able to decide how to split the payment. Depending on what the payment is for, you might agree that:

  • You should split the payment 50/50 (e.g. if a television you purchased together was stolen)

  • Either you or your roommate should receive the entire payment (e.g. if only one person’s possessions were stolen

  • You should split the payment, but not equally (e.g. you both had items stolen, but one person lost more than the other)

Once you come to an agreement, it’s easy to deposit the payment and split it. Insurers usually pay claims by check, so you’ll both need to endorse the check. Then, you can either cash it and divvy up the cash fairly, or deposit it in one person’s account and have them pay the other person according to your agreement.

Sharing Claim Payments Is Inconvenient When No Longer Renting Together

Once your roommate has moved out, sharing a claim payment will be much more challenging. If you don’t get along, splitting the payment fairly could be impossible. Even if you remain good friends, though, it’ll be inconvenient to get the funds from a valid claim.

Renters Insurance Burlington VT

 

If you and your roommate had a falling out before they moved to a different place, they may refuse to cooperate with you — which would make depositing a check that’s made out to both of you extremely difficult. They may try to argue that they deserve part of the claim payment, even though they didn’t suffer any losses in the covered incident, because they’re still a policyholder. Alternatively, they may recognize that you should receive the entire payment, yet refuse to endorse the check, which would effectively prevent you from depositing the check and using the funds you’re due.

Hopefully, you’ll still get along with your roommate after they move out. Even if you do, you’ll still need their endorsement before you deposit the check, which could take several days to obtain and require sending the check through the mail.

Ask a Renters Insurance Agent in Burlington to Help You

All you have to do to avoid all of these hassles is have your roommate remove their name from your renters insurance policy when they move out. Without their name on the policy, you’ll be able to easily deposit and receive the funds from any valid claim you file against your renters policy. Removing a name is a simple process that takes just a minute or two with the help of an insurance agent. To take your roommate’s name off of your renters policy, just contact your Burlington agent and explain the change in circumstances. They’ll know to take your roommate off your policy, and they’ll be able to do it for you.

This material is for informational purposes only. All statements herein are subject to the provision, exclusions and conditions of the applicable policy. For an actual description of all coverages, terms and conditions, refer to the insurance policy.