My apartment is ruined. Now what?

What happens after there is a covered loss at your apartment?  Half of your stuff is undamaged, but the landlord says you can't live in the building while the damage is being fixed.  What happens next?

If you have renters insurance then you're probably in luck, there is coverage for the extra expenses you incur after a loss.  On most policies it's called "Loss of Use".

Loss of use is the phrase used to cover all sorts of expenses that you normally wouldn't have if you didn't have a loss to your apartment.  The best way to illustrate this is to give an example and run through the most common situations.

Let's say a typical renters policy has $25,000 of personal property.  The loss of use coverage will be a percentage of that number and it varies from company to company.  In the case of Travelers it's 30% or $7,500.  Lightning struck the roof of your building and started a fire, thankfully you weren't home, but there is significant damage to your unit from the fire and then the sprinklers and fire department hoses putting the fire out. 

You have to stay in a hotel for the time being.  You've also decided to find a new place to live because it's going to be months before your old building is inhabitable again.  You have to eat out a lot more because you no longer have a kitchen.  Your dog isn't welcome in the hotel so you have to kennel him.  Finally, you had to rent a storage facility because you needed a place to store your undamaged personal property.

That $7,500 will help pay for all of that.  Your hotel bills are included (as long as it's not the Four Seasons and your apartment was above a bowling alley), you can get coverage for the extra expense of eating out, the kennel for your dog is included and so is the rental place, including the truck to take stuff there.  Basically, if you have an expense now that wasn't there before it is possible you can get reimbursed for that...including the rental truck to move into your new apartment.