Renters Insurance Clause
in Your Lease
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Statutes verified against primary state sources
Every statute cited here was read in its published text before this page went live: on the state's own site where that site can be reached, otherwise on a republished copy of the code. Court decisions are quoted from the published opinion and linked to it, so you can read the original yourself.
Primary sourcesNot legal advice
Content verified against primary state statutes before publicationLast updated: October 2026
What it actually means, what Pennsylvania law says, what's specific to Philadelphia - and exactly what to do. In plain English.
Quick Summary - What You Need to Know
- A full-text read of the Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 finds no tenant insurance or liability coverage provision.
- Philadelphia's Licenses & Inspections says tenants are not legally required to carry renters insurance.
- A landlord may still make a policy a lease condition and deny an application without one.
- Leases often ask for $100,000 in personal liability, some $300,000. That is market habit, not law.
- Your landlord's policy insures the building, not your belongings or your liability.
Copy and send: Before you sign the lease, after reading the insurance clause and the sentences around it
Questions about the insurance clause
Fill in the brackets and keep a copy of what you send.
How Pennsylvania compares
Typical required liability coverage, state by state
$100kNo figureGuide coming soonYou are here
See all 27 cities as a chart
Figures are the state rule, or the stronger city ordinance where one exists. Verify the current law for your own situation before relying on it.
Understanding the Renters Insurance Clause
This page is for Philadelphia renters whose lease says to buy renters insurance and who want to know whether the law backs it. The clause usually names a coverage amount, asks for proof at move-in, and may say what happens if the policy lapses.
The amount matters less than the wording beside it, such as a sentence naming the landlord on your policy or making you cover their losses. Read those lines closely and raise anything you dislike in writing before you sign.
What renters assume
If my lease asks for $100,000 in coverage, Pennsylvania law must require that amount.
What is actually true
A full-text read of the Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 turns up no coverage amount. The $100,000 is an insurance-market convention your landlord wrote into the lease.
Eleven of the 27 cities on this chart sit at $100,000, nine of them as a typical figure, while Pennsylvania records no state requirement at all. California's statutory figure is the waterbed rule under Civil Code 1940.5. In Philadelphia, that number lives in your lease.
Renters Insurance Clause Example - What the Wording Looks Like in Philadelphia, PA
The sample clause below is real lease language - a court quoted it word for word, and then ruled on it. What the judge decided is at the bottom of this block.
Find the equivalent paragraph in your own lease and read the two side by side. The wording will differ; the moving parts rarely do.
7. Insurance. [The Riggses are] responsible for obtaining fire and extended coverage, including public liability[ ] insurance with [the Harkers] to be listed as an additional insured under the policy. [The Riggses] shall also be responsible for renter's coverage on [the Riggses'] own personal property located on the Leased Premises. [The Riggses] shall indemnify and hold [the Harkers] harmless from all claims of thi9rd [sic] parties for bodily injury, property damage or death arising from [the Riggses'] use or occupancy of the Leased Premises.
Quoted from the published opinion in Hoosier Insurance Co. v. Riggs, 92 N.E.3d 685 (Ind. Ct. App. 2018). Judicial opinions are not subject to copyright; the lease language is reproduced in limited part for commentary under 17 U.S.C. § 107.
What the 4 highlighted phrases mean
“responsible for obtaining fire and extended coverage”
This sentence is about the building, not your belongings. Our Pennsylvania record states the default position directly: a landlord's own policy insures the building, not the tenant's belongings or liability. That record says nothing in the Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 bars a landlord from making renters insurance a lease condition. It does not reach a sentence asking the tenant to insure the building - which leaves the paragraph you signed as the document that answers it. On our record that makes it a private contract term rather than a code minimum.
See the example
“including public liability[ ] insurance”
This is the number everybody actually negotiates, and in Pennsylvania it comes from the insurance market rather than from the statute book. Landlords here commonly ask for $100,000 of personal liability coverage, some for $300,000, and our record is explicit that those are conventions and not law. The practical consequence is clean: our record finds no statutory minimum to fall back on and no ceiling to complain about, which leaves the figure typed into your lease as the only figure that binds you.
See the example
“own personal property located on the Leased Premises”
Here is the sentence that matches what a renter thinks they are buying: cover for their own possessions in their own unit. It arrives after a sentence about the structure and a demand for liability cover, which is the reason to read a paragraph like this one all the way through before signing. Our Pennsylvania record finds no statutory requirement either way, which leaves the difference between a paragraph asking only for this and a paragraph asking for all four to the drafting of the lease in front of you.
“for bodily injury, property damage or death”
The reach of the indemnity, stated in the categories insurers use. What a renter should take from Hoosier is not that the tenants lost - they did not, the court reversed the dismissal and sent the case back - but that an insurance paragraph can be read later as evidence of who the parties expected to carry a loss. Our Pennsylvania record covers whether coverage can be required and what limits landlords typically ask for; it does not reach indemnity wording, which leaves the paragraph you signed as the document that answers it.
The insurer's claim survived. Nobody was held liable. The Indiana Court of Appeals reversed a Rule 12(B)(6) dismissal and sent the case back. Under Indiana's case-by-case approach this insurance paragraph has to be construed to work out who the parties intended to bear the risk of fire loss, which means the landlord's insurer could be a real party in interest entitled to sue the tenants in subrogation. The rule it leaned on is worth reading twice: “if a lease obligates a tenant to procure insurance covering a particular type of loss, such a provision will provide evidence that the parties reasonably anticipated that the tenant would be liable for that particular loss, which would allow an [ ] insurer who pays the loss to bring a subrogation action against the tenant.” The case was remanded for the trial court to read the lease and weigh the equities. So the clause was enough to keep the subrogation claim alive - it did not decide it, and no renter should read this as a ruling that the tenants owed the money.
How this state's law treats this clause
One court, one lease, one state. That answer is not automatically yours, and your lease may be worded to land differently. Use this to know what to look for and what to ask - your state's tenant hotline or a local tenant attorney can answer it for your document.
Pennsylvania Law on Renters Insurance Clause
- No Pennsylvania statute requires a tenant to carry renters insurance; a full-text read of the Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 (68 P.S. 250.101-250.602) turns up no tenant insurance or liability coverage provision.
- Nothing in the Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 bars a landlord from making renters insurance a lease condition, so the requirement - and any dollar limit - is a private contract term, not a code minimum.
- Where a lease does require it, landlords in Pennsylvania commonly ask for $100,000 in personal liability coverage (some for $300,000), but those figures are insurance-market convention, not law.
- A landlord's own policy insures the building, not the tenant's belongings or liability, and a landlord may lawfully deny an application or treat non-compliance as a lease breach where the lease requires coverage.
Verify the current text in your state's landlord-tenant statutes.
A full-text read of Pennsylvania's Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 (68 P.S. 250.101-250.602) turns up no tenant insurance or liability coverage provision. Three points from our record of the Act bear on this clause:
- The landlord can require it. Nothing in the Act bars making renters insurance a lease condition, so the requirement and any dollar limit are private contract terms, not a code minimum.
- Going without has a cost. Where the lease requires coverage, a landlord may deny your application or treat a missing policy as a lease breach.
- Their policy is not yours. A landlord's own policy insures the building, not your belongings or your liability.
Because the amount is a contract term, raise it before you sign. Read the current text of the Act before you rely on it.
What's Specific to Philadelphia
Philadelphia adds nothing on this clause. Licenses & Inspections confirmed tenants are not legally required to carry renters insurance.
The papers the city requires at lease start, the rental license, Certificate of Rental Suitability, Partners for Good Housing handbook and lead certification, say nothing about tenant insurance. Those are what your landlord owes you at signing.
Insurance is only what your lease may ask of you, so price a few licensed insurers before taking the leasing office's option.
It should. No Pennsylvania section we read sets a minimum, and vague words like 'adequate insurance' leave the number open for the landlord to set later.
A fair clause says yes. Get any licensed insurer in writing so you can compare prices before move-in.
Red flag. That moves their risk onto your policy. Ask to strike the sentence before you sign, or have a lawyer read it.
Push back. Additional interest only tells them if your policy lapses. Additional insured pulls your coverage toward their exposure.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
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No dollar amount in the clause
'Adequate' or 'sufficient' coverage with no number lets a manager raise the bar mid-lease. Ask for a figure before you sign.
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Landlord named as additional insured
This pulls your policy toward their exposure. Additional interest is the narrower ask. It only tells them when your coverage lapses.
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Force-placed policy billed back to you
A clause letting the landlord buy coverage for you and charge it on. Get the exact monthly rate in writing before you sign.
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Indemnity wording in the paragraph
A sentence making you answer for the landlord's losses or claims. Ask to strike it, or have a lawyer read it first.
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A coverage amount called a legal minimum
No section we read in the Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 sets one. Ask the landlord, in writing, where the figure comes from.
Your Rights as a Philadelphia Tenant
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No legal duty from the city
Philadelphia's Licenses & Inspections confirmed tenants are not legally required to carry renters insurance. Any requirement comes from your lease.
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The amount is a contract term
The $100,000 in many leases is a market convention, not a code minimum, so you can ask to change it before you sign.
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Your own choice of insurer
Unless the lease names one, comparable coverage from any licensed insurer can meet the clause. Bring the declarations page as proof.
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Only signed terms bind you
The insurance duty comes from your signed lease. If it is silent, no section we read requires a policy, and a mid-lease demand is not a term you agreed to.
What To Do - Step by Step
Find the insurance paragraph
Search the lease for 'insurance,' 'liability,' 'indemnify' and 'additional insured.' Note the amount and the deadline for proof.
Check the current law
Read the current Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 and Philadelphia's Licenses & Inspections guidance before you rely on this page.
Flag indemnity and insured wording
Highlight anything making you cover the landlord's losses or naming them additional insured. Ask for additional interest instead.
Get your own quotes first
Price a few licensed insurers before taking the leasing office's option, then bring the declarations page to move-in as proof.
Get every change initialed
If the amount or insured wording changes, have it written into the lease and initialed, not promised over email.
Ask for help if signed
Signed a clause that reads like an indemnity? A Philadelphia tenant-rights group or the Pennsylvania Attorney General's tenant resources can review it.
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Renters Insurance rules near Pennsylvania
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