I recently experienced a homeowner’s insurance situation that caused my family members a tremendous amount of aggravation, inconvenience and money. A water heater from an apartment unit above slowly leaked into the unit below owned by a family member. The water was flowing for almost 18 hours before the water heater was turned off. By then, sheet rock was damaged and water was sitting in parts of the ceiling never mind the personal items that were soaking wet. Of course, the first thing to do was to call the homeowner’s insurance company but wait, why can’t we find the active insurance policy information? Did the policy lapse? Yes, it did - Ugh!!!
We spent the following weeks hiring a water damage remediation company to remove walls, ceilings, moldings, etc. and air out the space so mold would not grow; getting quotes from contractors to put everything back together; and hiring an attorney to work on our behalf with the unit owner upstairs and their insurance company since that owner refused to take any responsibility. Most of this would have been handled by a homeowner’s insurance company, including the subrogation with the other insurance company. Needless to say, it’s been a huge headache and financially much larger than paying a deductible or the insurance premiums for the lapsed period.
No matter where you live, unknowns can happen. To protect you against uninsured losses, here are some questions to think about:
When was the last time you looked at your homeowner’s insurance policy?
Do you need to make changes to your current policy limits or coverage amounts?
Have you made any improvements or renovations to your home since you last reviewed your policy?
Do you have any jewelry or personal articles that are of great value and should be insured on a separate rider?
It’s a great idea to review your policies annually and to reach out to an insurance agent or broker if you want to see whether it makes sense to adjust anything to either save some money or make sure you are covered appropriately.
Please reach out to me if you need any resources for homeowner’s insurance. I have some really good local resources.