95% of house owners don’t understand what happens to their insurance on the home when the house becomes empty or unoccupied. This is often how owners find themselves with no coverage after submitting a claim and the insurance company learns the house wasn’t occupied at the time of claim.
Every home-owner’s insurance policy is totally different, but one issue is for sure. Owners insurers will not continue to insure a home, if the house isn’t being lived in by the primary homeowner. A house that is completely vacant (moved out) will end insurance more quickly than other situations.
Right now, there are thousands of homes that haven’t any insurance coverage, but the homeowners believe the house is fully covered as a result of they simply do not grasp the provisions of their insurance policy.
Put simply, individuals don’t seem to be aware that they’re risking everything. Common examples of cases that result in the house being considered vacant are:
o House sits empty for 90 days whereas the owners have moved out of state and are waiting for the old home to sell o A house is unoccupied for 72 days while the children decide what to do with the house of a deceased parents o A townhouse sits empty for 5 months whereas the owner, a college faculty member, is teaching a semester abroad. The professor thinks the house will be covered as he had asked the neighbor to check in on the home o An expatriate lives abroad whereas his house back within the US is being lived in by a friend. He failed to inform the owners insurer and switch the policy over to a landlord policy. The actual fact remains that virtually everybody in these types of situations do not perceive the risks involved.
If there were a claim in one of those situations, the householders insurance company could deny the claim and refund some months premium, canceling the policy.
For instance, a washer hose leak may be a common claim. If an owner had return home after work for example to find the hose leaking, the claim may be contained. Instead, the owner is not living in the house and the hose leaks for 9 days until the owner’s sister comes into the house to check on things. In this situation a $10,000 claim has was a $100,000 claim as a result of having 3 floors in ruin and 12 of the walls are currently infested with mildew and rot.
But, the owner is shocked to learn that they are only eligible to receive $10,000 from the insurance company and the full extent of the damage is not being covered. Once more, all of this assumes the insurer is generous enough to provide any coverage in the least in this situation! In several cases, this claim would be totally denied, with the insurer claiming the house was vacant and therefore the owner failed to inform the insurance company of the situation. However, expecting a claim to be covered for $100,000 in this example, and receiving a check for 1/10th of this quantity comes as a shock to the home owner.
Another great article by North Bay Real Estate
Tags: business, Finance, home, house, houses, Insurance, investing, Real Estate, Unsorted, Various
Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter
Youtube
"OUR BLOG"