All Forum Posts by: Derek Lacy

Insurance automatically moves to the "In the estate of" if the insured is deceased.  Call the credit union to find out who the insurer is.  The check will be made out to the estate of your mother, they will not change that.

A Realtor is hurt, they file Work Comp.  The work comp carrier 100% can go after the party at fault.  Yes, a realtor is your agent, but in a principle/agent relationship there is no exclusion to negligence.  You're parsing a simple solution.  What about a prospective buyer slips and falls in your house.  There is a lawsuit right there.

But I would be more worried about a work comp carrier going after you.  They have lawyers on staff just to recover the payment.

I actually agree 90%, but disagree on no exposure to personal/advertising injury. 

Personal injury is where the torts of illegal entry or illegal eviction would be covered. 

Also one more add on. CCC exclusion. A liabiltiy policy never covers property damage to property in you care, custody, or control. That's a huge one. 

Otherwise, great summary of a 50 page policy into a few paragraphs. 

Here is the hard part, there is no standard umbrella policy. The answer is you or your attorney should review any umbrella policy. 

With being in the insurance business I'm very certain that will likely not happen.

Since there are no standard policies, I cannot give you a standard answer other than this.

Every property you want covered should be listed on the umbrella. If you move a property to an LLC name, you should move all relevant policies into that LLC's name. I only know of one umbrella insurance market that will cover personal name items with LLC items and then it must be a single member LLC in that same personal name.

Let me know if we can help, we are in all 50 states.  And send any follow up questions and I'll see if I can give you a straighter answer  

I am confused on how the buyers contractor liability policy would in any way cover the seller?

The seller needs their own liability policy (USLI is a great market for that) until closing. A contractors liability policy only covers the contractor. If additional insured is added for the buyer, the policy only covers the buyer for lawsuits brought against the buyer because of the contractors actions. Meaning the buyer still needs their own liability policy to cover their butt. 

I hear this A LOT from house flippers, my contractor has GL and lists me as additional insured. So what happens when your realtor slips and falls in the house on resale?  I can tell you this, your profit margins will be WAY down after the realtor's work comp carrier is done with you. (The WC carrier will certainly subrogate (go after you) for that claim). 

So find a broker, we're licensed in all 50 states for P&C, get the policy. Great news too, as long as you have an insured contractor, one of the biggest Builders Risk markets in the U.S. will now add on GL. No need for two policies now. 

The answer is yes you can force place renters insurance if it is contractually required/allowed.  Meaning you need to have a clause stating you must provide acceptable proof of personal liability coverage as found in the renters policy, if you don't we will purchase it for you and add the cost onto the rent and due with the rent.  

The insurable interest argument is correct, you cannot go out and buy a renters policy from State Farm and place it in your name for their contents, you cannot place the policy in their name without their permission....  So that leaves us a little stuck huh?

Well there are insurers that specialize in this.  They put "forced placed" liability coverage on the unit.  Usually about $14 a month per unit and covers up to $100,000 in liability.

This is what is almost ALWAYS missed when investors talk about requiring renters insurance.  Why do I care if their stuff gets stolen...  You financially don't.  But do you care if your tenant doesn't watch the boiling pot, starts a fire and does $50,000 in damages to your home?  I bet you do.  And there is the insurable interest.  Your tenant is being entrusted with your property and you are requiring liability coverage per your contract.  There is absolutely an insurable interests there.  

What if their child leaves the bath running and does $75,000 in water damage, renters personal liability would cover that.

This saves you from turning in a claim and paying a deductible in the event the tenants negligence causes the claim.  Most likely you'll turn it into your property insurance, but they will go after (subrogate) against the liability insurance included on the renters policy.  

Now, most of these forced place renters insurance insurers are looking for property managers or apartment complexes, they usually want you to be in control of 50+ units to offer the coverage.  You might just have one renter not complying, but they want you to have more than a few SFD's.  

We can certainly help anyone out with further specific questions on this type of coverage.  

We do write builders risk in PA if that helps.  We represent AIG and Zurich the two biggest underwriters on those types of policies.

Considering the next step down on 90% of renters insurance policies is $100,000 they are just trying to make sure all of your expenses are covered in the event they are liable for the damage to your property.  To be fair to the underwriter, the difference between $100,000 and $300,000 in liability would be about $10 with a high priced insurer.

We can help fix that issue, we are licensed in CA.  Wayne is correct you need a builders risk.  Also, don't ever not mention everything to your insurance agent.  When you find the right insurance agent, it's a bit like an attorney, the worst thing you can do is lie to us.  Because we're trying to tell you what the best approach to the policy will be.  

Homeowners is only for owner occupied dwellings.  That is the first condition, so if that condition is not met, there can be a problem with underwriting and claims.  Now, $800 might be a bit much.  But I don't have any of the info.  Normally a builders risk policy for a normal type rental would not be that much, but this may be bigger, more expensive, etc.