Liability waiver for water intrusion in detached garage?

Question

First a little background:

I purchased  a property in Sacramento at the end of August which needed  a bunch of small fixes. My home owners insurance company did an inspection while we were still doing renovations. The insurance company has just come back to us this week saying they are considering cancelling our coverage due to a list of non conforming items; most of which we already have, or are in the process of fixing.

One of the issues was a neglected tree which had large tree limbs resting on the roof of the detached garage. We've already cleaned up the tree, but as expected, there is noticeable damage to the composite roof. We will eventually be fixing these issues, but I would prefer not to have to worry about addressing the roof before we submit our repair report to the insurance company.

Our tenant (who is a friend of ours) was aware, from the beginning, that that the garage may have water issues.. I am considering an addendum to the lease (it's month to month) stating the tenant is aware of potential water intrusion issues, and will not hold the landlord liable for any damage due to it.

Would such a liability waver be legal? Is it even necessary in neighborhoods such as this where most of the garages are very old wooden structures behind the houses?

My hope is the waiver would lend a little more confidence to the insurance company that there is less risk.

I would prefer not to switch insurance companies, as I really like my agent, and we just consolidated all of our policies with them.

Sergey Tkachev · Answer

@Derek Daun, does the insurance company know of the visual damage to the garage roof or were they just concerned about the tree limbs resting on the roof, which you have already taken care of?  If it's the latter, I would just take a picture from the distance of the tree and garage so that it can be easily seen that there are no limbs resting on the garage roof.

If it's a fire insurance policy we are talking about, then their main concern is that you don't have anything resting on or close to a structure (such as a tree) that can cause damage in case of fire, etc.

In my experience, they are mostly looking for evidence that all potential hazards have been mitigated and the best way to give them comfort in that is to provide good photos of what has been taken care of already.  In that case, items like 10% wear on a roof can normally be looked over as insignificant compared to all of the other significant items that have been addressed.

Derek Daun · Answer

@Jesse Hinaman

I cannot be certain what the underwriter is actually concerned about, as both my insurance agent and I were surprised they kicked our policy back. My goal is to have as many corners covered when I submit my repair report to increase the likely hood they keep the policy.

As far as being responsible for my tenants personal property, yes he has renter's insurance; however, I believe the landlord can be held responsible if they are found negligent. I.E. if there is an obvious repair that they know about, or if a reasonable person should have known about it.

I'm concerned that my insurance company could be concerned about my tenant's renter's insurance company directing a claim towards towards us. Even though I know that wouldn't happen, I was thinking the liability waiver would be a way of me letting insurance know it won't be an issue.

@Colleen F.

One of the reason's I want to cover as many bases as possible is because there are a couple of things on the insurance companies list we would prefer not address at the time. For example, they mentioned wear on 10% of the shingles of the main house. We would like to get another 3-5 years out this roof. With that in mind, I want to be extra diligent about other items on the list.

Matthew Paul · Answer

Dont rent them the garage part .

Colleen F. · Answer

I don't know about the liability waiver from the tenant but we got the insurance company inspection and we sent pictures of repairs for each item they cited.  The insurance company was then  okay with still insuring.  I would also comment that they have excluded damage to certain structures on a parcel in a policy like an old wood garage but still cover liability.

Jesse Hinaman · Answer

@Derek Daun

As a rental, you would only need a Fire Policy, and the tenant is responsible to get renters insurance for their personal property.

Is that what your insurance company is concerned about? Or mostly potential structure damage?

I'll have to glance through the standard CAR Lease agreement I use, but I would think it's implicit that you are not responsible for any of the tenants personal property. Never hurts to re-iterate with an addendum, though.