is my landlord liable for my damaged property after the house was stuck by lightning.?
the landlord house insurance
The landlord has no liability at all.
His insurance only covers the house, not your possessions. You need to file a claim with your own insurance company.
Filed under Home Insurance by on Jun 3rd, 2010. Comment. 
Insurance compensates for the damages caused to their property either by the tenant, a natural calamity, or by an external source. Some policies can also cover for the legal expenses, and provide for the cost to repair the damaged building or recompense for the rent that was lost during the period of reconstruction of the property.
Before purchasing an insurance coverage policy, it is crucial to carefully examine and understand the details of what is covered and what is not covered in the policy. Some insurance may have limitations. There are compensations which may be limited to damages of the interior and may not cover for the exterior or vice versa. Therefore it is important for landlords to weigh their options first and consider the one that is best suitable or useful for them.
There are mainly two types of policies-comprehensive and peril. The first type of policy covers for all circumstances except if it is specifically excluded in the policy while the latter covers for fewer damages and contains a list of such damages which are covered under this policy. The coverage for property damages in landlord insurance are categorized into two: actual cash value and replacement value settlements. In Actual Cash Value settlement, the amount paid to the landlord at the end of the settlement is obtained by deducting the depreciation from the current value of the property. Whereas in Replacement Value settlement, the landlord is paid for all the costs necessary to replace the property that has been damaged without subtracting the depreciation from the current value of the property. But to qualify for the replacement value settlement it is the entire property that needs to be replaced, not just the damaged portion.
In case the property is not replaced, the settlement will be actual cash value. The landlord needs to pay a higher premium, though, if he will avail of the replacement value coverage, as compared to the actual value coverage. To avail of the replacement value coverage, landlords can reduce the amount of premium for the insurance by increasing the deductible. This is the money paid for recovering the losses by the landlord or the policy holder himself.
As tenants it is imperative that we are aware of these different insurance policies before we sign any landlord tenant forms, so we have our backs covered in case something happens in the future.
James is an expert in writing about legal forms and documents that may help you when your in the search of the right legal document. He writes many articles about forms ranging from, power of attorney forms, landlord tenant forms, and most any legal form that you are searching for.
Filed under Home Insurance by on May 30th, 2010. Comment.
Representative John Smithee, (R) Amarillo, has introduced HB911, which would, if passed and signed by the governor, cause the price of windstorm insurance - required of all coastal property owners - to soar by as much as 60 percent. Additionally, it wouldn't cover nearly as much and for certain properties, it would not be available at all.
Smithee is the Chairman of the House Committee on Insurance. He cites a need to replenish the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association, the state risk pool, after the onslaught of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, and Ike in 2008. The Association became the only insurer available for millions of coastal Texans after many insurers pulled out of windstorm coverage after the hurricanes.
The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association currently carries 215,537 policies totaling $58.6 billion in exposure. According to a December 2008 Texas Windstorm Insurance Association status statement, 43,079 of those policies are in Nueces County, with a total exposure of $11.4 billion.
House Bill 911 would, among other things:*
o Assess windstorm insurance rates based on geographical location, meaning coastal residents would pay more than inland residents. Rates could go up 60 percent for current coastal policy holders.
o Require coastal homeowners to purchase federal flood coverage.
o Cap windstorm insurance coverage at $250,000 per residence (homestead), well below the current $1.7 million cap, leaving thousands of homes uninsurable to their current value.
o Exclude coverage for rent houses, second homes, condominiums, apartments or other multi-family units.
o Decrease the maximum coverage for commercial buildings from $4.1 million to $1 million.
o Decrease the maximum coverage for government structures, such as schools and courthouses, from $4.1 million to $2.1 million, meaning those entities would have to use tax dollars to purchase more expensive, private insurance, if it's available, to make up the difference.
o Create a 60-day waiting period before losses could be sought, as opposed to current policy, which prevents new coverage once a hurricane is in the Gulf of Mexico.
* Source: House Bill 911 and an analysis from the Galveston Windstorm Action Committee Inc.
I have no problem with higher premiums for coastal policyholders. That is simply accurate underwriting. Happens in all types of insurance. But don't be fooled. If rates go up at the coastal states, they will rise state-wide. Texas is a windy state.
But that's where my agreements end. The rest of this bill is trash.
Here are the elements of the bill I oppose:
Caps on windstorm coverage - Don't cap coverage, charge the proper premium amount for the risk.
Requiring coastal property owners to buy Federal Flood insurance - it's tyranny to force a property owner to insure for flood. If the owners want to remain uninsured, it is their right. That doesn't mean a lienholder could not require flood insurance as a requirement for a mortgage. But that is a collateral protection issue. The federal government does not have a security position in a homeowner's property without some mortgage in place (Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, VA loans, etc.) To require flood insurance is a violation of property rights.
Excluding coverage for non-homestead dwellings, rental homes, apartments and condos - what kind of idiocy is this? There are millions of second homes, rental houses, condos and apartment buildings in the 14 coastal Texas counties. How would making them uninsurable help the situation?
The 60-day "deductible." Texas law now states that, once a hurricane or named storm enters the Gulf of Mexico, new coverage cannot be purchased. But those storms usually make landfall, if at all, within a few days. In addition, in the peak of the hurricane season, storms are seldom 60 days apart. Look at Katrina and Rita, about 30 days apart. This proposal hurts Texans.
Smithee is from Amarillo, a city over 650 miles from the Texas Gulf Coast. That's a distance equal to the distance from New York to Charlotte, North Carolina. I know that's somewhat obscure, but this nut case is a long way from the water. It illustrates just how far out of touch with reality he is.
So, if a bunch of insurers have stopped writing windstorm coverage in Texas, and the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association is the insurer of last resort for many Texans, where are they supposed to go to get insured to value?
This kind of legislative nonsense could bring the Coastal economies to a screeching halt. Lenders would stop lending on properties that could not be insured to value. Insureds with losses could lose everything.
Texans, both inland and coastal, need to bombard their elected representatives with their opinions on this very bad bill and demand that it be rejected.
In the film industry, there is the widely known name of Alan Smithee. It is an official pseudonym used by film directors who wish to disown a project because they were so disgusted with the final product. I can only hope that someone paints the name "Alan Smithee" on this horrid bill.
Copyright 2009 by Russell D. Longcore
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Filed under Home Insurance by on May 19th, 2010. Comment.