Renters insurance in Texas

What renters insurance in Texas covers

• Personal property: your furniture, electronics, clothing and more, against covered perils such as fire, theft and many storms.
• Liability: if you're responsible for injury or damage to others.
• Additional living expenses: if your home becomes unlivable after a covered loss.

Texas gaps to know about

Flood isn't covered by a standard renters policy. Renters can buy contents-only flood insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program or private insurers. On the coast, check whether wind and hail are covered.

Claims

The same Texas claim rules apply: your company must acknowledge a claim within 15 days, accept or deny it within 15 business days of getting what it needs, and pay within 5 business days of agreeing to pay. Keep a home inventory with photos to make claims easier.

What your Texas lease and Property Code say

Texas law doesn't require renters insurance, so whether you need it is usually set by your lease. Read it for the minimum liability amount and whether the landlord must be listed as an interested party. TDI is clear that the building owner's policy pays to fix the building, not your belongings.

Some Texas landlords offer a monthly fee instead of a security deposit and use it to buy insurance. Property Code Section 92.111 says the landlord must still offer a regular deposit option, and that unless stated otherwise the fee is not insurance that covers you. It protects the landlord, not your property or your liability.

Flood disclosure in Texas leases

For leases of 30 days or more, Property Code Section 92.0135 requires the landlord to tell you in writing whether they know the unit is in a 100-year floodplain and whether it flooded in the past five years. The notice itself warns that most tenant policies don't cover flood.

If the landlord didn't give the notice and a flood damages at least half the value of your belongings, you can end the lease by written notice within 30 days of the loss, and the landlord must refund prepaid rent within 30 days. Contents-only flood coverage from the NFIP goes up to $100,000 and usually takes 30 days to start.

If a storm or fire makes your unit unlivable

Under Property Code Section 92.054, if a casualty such as fire, smoke or hail makes the unit totally unusable and you didn't cause it, you or the landlord can end the lease in writing before repairs are finished. You get a prorated rent refund and your deposit under the normal rules. If it's only partly unusable, a rent reduction generally requires a court judgment unless your lease says otherwise.

Your renters policy's loss of use coverage is what pays for a hotel and extra costs while you're displaced, as long as the damage came from a covered peril.

Security deposits and moving out

Texas landlords must refund the deposit within 30 days after you surrender the unit, minus itemized deductions, and can't deduct for normal wear and tear (Sections 92.103 and 92.104). A landlord who keeps a deposit in bad faith can owe $100 plus three times the amount wrongly withheld and your attorney's fees. Don't assume your renters policy pays charges you owe the landlord under the lease; ask your agent which kinds of damage to the unit your liability coverage can pay.

Paperwork that makes a renters claim easier

Texas claim deadlines start running when your insurer has notice and the information it asked for, so having documents ready speeds things up. Keep these together, with copies stored online:

• Your lease, including any insurance clause and the signed flood disclosure.
• Move-in photos or a condition checklist, which also helps with your deposit.
• A home inventory with photos and receipts for higher-value items.
• Your renters policy declarations page.
• Any written repair requests you sent the landlord.

Picking coverage as a Texas renter

• Personal property: total what you own with a room-by-room inventory and photos, and choose replacement cost if offered.
• Water: ask how burst pipes are covered; TDI says renters may have no access to shutoff valves in a freeze, but policies can still have conditions.
• Wind on the coast: confirm your policy covers wind and hail. TWIA also sells tenant contents coverage, which by law includes loss of use where that coverage is excluded from your regular policy.
• Hard to place? The Texas FAIR Plan sells a Tenant Policy through agents.