TL;DR: if anything damages your personal property and you don't have renters insurance, you've lost it for good. This article was originally published on Curbed NY.
For many apartment hunters, renters insurance is in the back of their mind as something they should have but haven't gotten around to yet. There's no blanket rule or law requiring that you purchase a policy for your apartment, and many renters assume their stuff will be covered by their landlord's policy if anything goes wrong in the building.
Here's some bad news: if anything damages your personal property and you don't have renters insurance, you've lost it for good. The good news, though, is that protecting your stuff through renters insurance is fairly easy and not that expensive. "Most people don't realize it's inexpensive and widely available," said Jeff Schneider, president of Gotham Brokerage. Gotham Brokerage specializes in renters and apartment insurance, but Schneider says that every insurance company offers it. Once secured, renters insurance will protect you from three things: coverage for personal possessions, liability protection, and additional living expenses.

The first concern of securing renters insurance tends to be cost. But Schneider insists it's not that expensive: "You can get minimum coverage for under $200 a year," he said. Renters coverage starts as low as $125 a year. Essentially, what you pay for a policy is based on the value of your belongings. The high...