Insurance questions (Tree fell on the roof and damaged it)

[Mary Jay]

Hi guys,

So I have some Insurance questions. Could you please help?

I had a tree (the neighbors tree) that fell on the roof of my rental and damaged it severely so now I have to change the whole roof.

So during the hurricane I had an insurance called Citizens, but right after the hurricane they switched me to a different insurance (Slide)...

Will you please help me with my questions:

1) My coverage was for a policy that is not a rental but  partially owner occupied (its a duplex), because I lived there but then moved out and did not switch the coverage to a rental. So now both units in the duplex are long term rentals but the coverage in partially owners occupied.

Is it a big deal for the insurance? If I decide to do a claim?

We fixed the roof ,at least I think we did , but will see how it does. The roofer did say I will need a new roof because the roof is old so the fixes that he did may not last

2) I  dont have any pictures of the damage before they fixed the roof. Only have the picture of the tree laying on the roof and a branch sticking out. Can the insurance reject it?

I did not call the insurance adjustor yet because I wanted to fix the roof asap because its been raining every day

3) Since they switched the insurances on me after the hurricane, I will be asking the insurance that held the coverage during the hurricane to replace the roof (if I go that route), is there a time frame where the insurance company will refuse to cover and say that they wont cover because it was too long ago?

4) Is my insurance broker on my side or the insurance side? For instance, can I tell him that the policy is not for a full rental but for a partial owner occupied? Or its best not to bring it up so he would not necessarily let the insurance coverage know? Can I be open with an insurance broker? 

Thank you so much!!!