By Janelle Brennand
Since moving into her rented home in Centretown this September, Jen Cameron had never quite got around to purchasing tenants’ insurance.
The Carleton University graduate student had every intention of eventually getting it . She had even made a few phone calls to insurance companies. But, after more than four months of good intentions, all her personal possessions still remain uninsured.
“I had thought about it but never acted on it,” she says, admitting that laziness played a role. “It never really got off the ground.”
But that all changed last month when tragedy struck next door.
In the early morning of Jan. 18, a fire tore through a three-storey house on Flora Street right next to Cameron’s home.
“It just kept smouldering and smouldering and smouldering,” says Cameron, who along with her housemates was evacuated by firefighters for safety reasons.
The five occupants of the burning house escaped without injury, but none were insured.
“I watched five people lose everything they own,” she says. “I know that’s what they’re left with right now – nothing.”
Unfortunately, they aren’t alone. Countless tenants, including many students, don’t bother purchasing tenants’ insurance. Without it, all their personal belongings from furniture and computers to appliances and personal mementos are lost with no insurance money to replace them.
Alistair Hensler has seen it before. As coordinator of disaster services at the Canadian Red Cross, Hensler helped the Red Cross provide assistance at 41 fires last year alone. Offering such things as temporary accommodation, food, clothing and medicine, the Red Cross assists about 200 people each year.
Of those, Hensler says about 70 per cent lack tenants’ insurance.
A fire can be devastating for those without insurance, Hensler explains, as they are left on their own to replace any property lost in the blaze.
“What can I say — it’s like starting all over again,” he says. “(Tenants’ insurance) makes it so much easier for you if you do have a fire.”
Nevertheless, the majority of tenants don’t bother to insure their belongings. Hensler says he thinks most people just fail to accept the possibility that a fire could occur.
“I don’t know how many people I’ve heard say, ‘I didn’t think it could happen to me.’”
Ray Sullivan is a spokesperson for the Centretown Citizens Ottawa Corporation (CCOC), a non-profit organization that rents out 47 properties in and around the Centretown area. He says there may be other factors attributing to why so many fail to purchase tenants’ insurance. The big one, says Sullivan, is the cost.
“There are a lot of tenants who find that those extra few dollars a month are not worth it,” he says.
Students in particular, says Sullivan, are more likely to shrug off insurance.
“It’s higher among people with modest or lower incomes,” he says. “I would put most students under that category.”
Also, Sullivan says a lot of people simply don’t realize that if there’s a fire in the building, the landlord isn’t liable for their personal property.
What makes matters worse, he adds, is that if the fire or accident is found to be their responsibility, the tenant could be liable for the damages to the property itself.
“If the tenant doesn’t have insurance, then unfortunately they could be on the hook (for damages),” he says.
Unfortunately, Sullivan says many tenants don’t realize the risk they are taking until tragedy strikes. It is for this reason that the CCOC makes an effort to convince its tenants to buy insurance before it’s too late.
“You never want a catastrophe to happen, but when it does you need to be prepared,” she says.
Back on Flora Street, Cameron says she can understand why people fail to buy insurance. The money is a major factor, she says, particularly for students.
However, she says the tragedy next door has taught her a mean lesson.
“As of now I don’t (have insurance),” she says. “But I’m in the process of getting it for very obvious reasons.”