Cautionary Tale - off campus housing

Parents Forum
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230 students at UMASS (including my kid) living in private off-campus housing in Amherst, Massachusetts lost everything when their apartment building burned to the ground this past weekend.

S23 is a Junior; this year he moved off campus to one of those privately owned properties that caters to students. I’m a lawyer and reviewed the lease communications and lease closely (we were required to be guarantors).

The lease required the student to procure liability insurance to protect landlord from damage caused by resident and offered a way to sign up and pay monthly as part of the monthly rent. Alternatively, an independent policy providing sufficient coverage could be provided. Lease communications/lease also strongly recommended resident procure an independent rental insurance policy.

We had S23 obtain an independent rental policy providing him contents and loss of use coverage. We made sure it provided the 100K liability insurance and provided copy to landlord.

Reader, I NEVER had rental coverage when I was a student. If I was not a lawyer (now in real estate) I am not sure I would have purchased it. I’m so glad I did. SO MANY kids/families, opted for the standard liability policy and obtained no independent coverage. So LESSON 1: get an independent rental policy. I called our regular agent and it was easy to get a policy for kid and provide to Landlord. We are waiting for claim to be processed, but this will help us-and for a family with fewer resources, could be a game changer.

LESSON 2: I know 90% of fire drills are no big deal, but you never know. Reader, they were never allowed back into the structure. The fire spread too fast, drought conditions caused insufficient water pressure, and the building had to be completely demolished. In this case the fire was still burning, post demolition, under all the rubble. My kid (who has not lived in raucous housing) thought to grab his wallet, computer, and iPad. So many kids walked out with just their phone. They lost IDs, passports, car keys, and computers, right before mid-terms. Along with everything they owned. So tell kids that if they are being orderly evacuated, grab their wallet, passport, backpack with laptop, car keys and phone. It will save some headaches later. If you have an animal, put a sign or sticker in the window in case you are not home when fire starts.

Lastly, when you hear about things like this happening at a college of interest to your family, investigate how the college/community handles the emergency. The response from UMASS-Amherst has been excellent. The coordination between the municipality, the town, and the responsive landlord has been exemplary.

Lots of people are upset that they were not provided a proper rental policy, but they acknowledge they never read the paperwork carefully. So please check the fine print. Many larger schools have a student legal services office that will review leases and answer questions.

Lastly, be mindful of water consumption. Out here in the northeast, I wouldn’t think about wild fires or not having enough water to fight a fire, but here we are.

We were very lucky and I thought our experience would help others. :heart:

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How very very scary! So glad your son is OK and I hope that no one else was hurt.
:people_hugging:

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All excellent points. Thanks for sharing/reinforcing.

I’m glad your son was unharmed and pleased with the UMass response

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Seems like the summary would be:

  • Take fire safety and evacuation awareness seriously.
  • Consider renter’s insurance when renting a place to live (including on- or off-campus college dorm).
  • Back up data on computers.
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So sorry to hear you kiddo was impacted by this. My D24 is living in a similar type of off-campus housing and we purchased a separate renters/liability policy because when I read what we would actually “get” if we went with the $15/month tacked on by owner liability policy I realized the gap.

Just one comment on your post, re: lesson #2. I would always advise my kids to just get out, and not worry about taking the time to pack up things. Fire can spread quickly (and it sounds like this one did). Yes, it’s a hassle to deal with replacing items, but the only thing that can’t be replaced is them.

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Agree 100%. Evacuation is evacuation- as quickly as possible without trampling someone else in the process.

Two weeks ago a guy died in a flood in Brooklyn. Torrential rain, he had safely evacuated, but went back for his dog. Just the saddest story.

I cannot imagine telling my kid to grab his wallet or passport or laptop. GET OUT, insurance or no insurance.

But good reminder for people– before your kid leaves for college, sit down and photograph/scan driver’s license, passport, any other documents the kid is taking with them. I replaced a lost passport in 48 hours when I sent over the PDF of my original (admittedly, the federal government was not shut down at that point). The very nice State Department professional who helped me said that the process takes 4-6 weeks if all you can give them is your social security number, DOB, etc. The picture page with the electronic scan- provide that and you’re good to go.

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Thank you for this post.

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Over one Christmas break when I was in college, the pipes above my dorm room burst and water went everywhere. The damage was mainly on my roommate’s side. She lost a lot. She expected to be reimbursed for the damage and was shocked to learn she should have purchased renter’s insurance. So I made sure my kids had policies!

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We had the student renter’s insurance that covered all of their electronics. https://www.nssi.com/individual-quote?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21882698584&gbraid=0AAAAACp2IFy-K_uaffHDNBiPeO-t-SsK4&gclid=CjwKCAiA_dDIBhB6EiwAvzc1cP6rDhFOca6OG_MrW4yK_vLEq1Wc0Q6Zd_MmdzYgqILrZ3T44Pz03BoCBP0QAvD_BwE

But we also had our insurance agent write up a rental insurance policy that would cover anything above personal items. Being in California, thus being fire-prone, the rental properties required a separate rental insurance. I believe, at the time, it was pretty inexpensive, as long as we had a policy with the same company.

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We have a list, that we made for ourselves, and then our kids just copied it but modified it to fit their living situation. It’s called:

“What to grab in an emergency. . .”

….. with less than 10 minutes,

. . . . With less than five minutes,

With less than one minute-GET THE F OUT!

We have an emergency file folder with the title: “Grab this in an emergency‼️”

It has passports, certificated documents, insurance info, utility information, and the phone numbers of relatives.

It’s the first thing we reach for if a fire is within a mile.

(Come to think of it, I think I’m going to put it on my community blog!)

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If you put the “grab me” documents into an easily accessible digital file, your kids can retrieve the information once they have internet access. They really don’t need hard copies….

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Yeah that’s the trick. Once we get those Santa Ana winds, everything goes.

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I’m so glad your kid made it out okay.

S23’s complex requires proof of rental insurance. It’s very affordable. We chose a policy that also covered any relocation expenses if they were displaced from their apartment. We figured that’s where the expenses would add up as he doesn’t really own much.

Kids at DS’s school have been displaced for mold, water damage, and structural damage, so they can be displaced for many reasons other than fire.

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In addition to making sure possessions in one’s dorm or off campus living arrangement are covered, students also need to make sure important possessions are covered outside of their room/apartment. Art supplies or computers in a studio space, instruments in a practice space, sports equipment in a gym area. If it costs money, make sure it’s covered at all times, in all places. Don’t assume that the school will reimburse for damage or theft, because it probably won’t.

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So glad your son and others are OK. When my daughter went off campus to an apartment we had her get renters insurance and it was like dirt cheap. There was an issue and it took care of it. The other 2 roommates didn’t have it.

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Yep. Uploading is the new wallet. Lol. Especially then traveling abroad but good points.