In 2001, black mold cases cost insurance companies over 1.2 billion dollars. This includes the cost of inspection and testing, remediation, attorney fees and punitive damages for builders’ neglect in dealing with the problem.
Since 2001, the number of black mold cases has steadily risen. Every year there are billions of dollars in lawsuits. Because of this, insurance companies have stopped carrying mold coverage. The new suits are brought against landlords, builders and property owners.
Unfortunately, many of these individuals do not fully understand their insurance coverage as it pertains to mold. Mold liability suits are on the rise, and you don’t want to be the next one!
So, What Can You Do?
Getting Coverage
Due to these recent mold cases, many insurance policies have included a “mold exclusion” to their insurance policies. If you are lucky enough to have an earlier policy that doesn’t have a mold exclusion, you should hang onto it.
The mold exclusion clauses are making it tough to get coverage for mold. You can often only get mold coverage as a stand-alone policy, and it carries high premiums. You can get it as an add-on to your existing policy as well, but it is often expensive.
If you live in a humid are such as the Pacific Northwest, it may be a good investment to get the extra coverage. Also, if the building property is old, you might want to be covered. Older buildings were built before there were strict guidelines for builders to deal with toxic black mold removal.
You also may be able to reduce the cost of coverage by developing an Operation & Maintenance plan for dealing with mold. Your O&M may include a plan for dealing with mold, a schedule for inspection and training for your employees in dealing with black mold remediation.
Fighting Mold
The best thing you can do is take care of mold problems when they occur and keep the mold out of your buildings. If your properties have a history of mold, you have to keep an eye on them. Talk with your tenants or employees and work on communicating with them. Make sure they understand how to check for mold, and notify you when they do.
If you are a landlord, you can revise your lease to include a section about black mold. Some landlords make their tenants fully responsible for mold cleanup, as long as it’s not a structural problem with the house. A better idea is to simply put a clause in the lease saying that it’s the tenants’ responsibility to notify the landlord of any black mold problems. This will keep you from being legally negligent.
It’s a really good idea to periodically pay for mold testing and inspection. This is expensive, but it may save you from a lawsuit. It also may save your tenants from suffering mold-related health problems.
Note that a high number of these cases have been brought in the states of Florida, Texas, California and the southwestern states. That’s because these places are prone to mold problems. If you are a landlord or developer in these areas, you need to take special care in mold prevention, inspection and removal.
Learn more about removing black mold from attic on our site. You’ll also find other information such as black mold exposure treatment. ToxicBlackMoldHelp.org is a comprehensive resource to help individuals to test and inspect, identify health symptoms and removal of toxic black mold.
Filed under Home Insurance by on May 4th, 2010. Comment. 
I have a PC and Laptop, I currently pay insurance for them both, this comes to about £15 month is it worth it?
I was wondering whether to get rid of these insurances as I pay home insurance which covers them for theft or damage.
I suppose if you look at it, it’s costing £180-00 a year, so far (18 months) i’ve never used it, so i’ve paid out £270-00 for nothing really.
What do you think?
good points notgnal and mick!
i think i’ll get rid
has anyone out there ever actually used it?
you can buy a NEW laptop out argos catalogue for less monthly payments
Filed under Home Insurance by on Apr 29th, 2010. Comment.
Marks & Spencer have this week announced a move into the energy market as part of a new deal with Scottish & Southern Energy. Apparently, customers will now be able to buy gas and electricity in their shops and on their web site and earn rewards for signing up, renewing contracts and, perhaps more importantly, for cutting consumption.
M&S claim that their energy prices will be competitive, at around £1,196 per year for an average user, and the same as existing SSE customers who buy dual fuel by direct debit.
M&S Energy customers will get a £15 voucher if they reduce their annual energy usage by 10% and another £10 voucher if they opt for paperless billing. Those who switch to M&S Energy ‘Dual-fuel’ also receive a £20 M&S voucher on sign-up and an extra £10 voucher for each year they remain with M&S Energy. The deal will be launched on October 27th on the M&S web site and available through its network of stores by the end of November.
Some would say that the energy market is already complicated enough without major high street retailers jumping on the bandwagon. There’s a plethora of suppliers to choose from and each has its own bewildering array of promotional offers, incentives and discounts to baffle new and existing customers with. However, M&S have a world-class brand, a reputation for quality and a loyal and trusting customer base to leverage and I suppose selling energy is no worse an idea than Tesco selling car insurance or John Lewis selling holidays.
But where does this relentless drive for diversification end? M&S cars? M&S mobile phones? M&S stair lifts? The retailer is already selling electrical goods and furniture and this new energy deal is part of an ongoing initiative to expand into a wider range of goods and services.
Clearly, we are living through troubled times and high street retailers are under increasing pressure to innovate their way out of the current downturn in sales and the inevitable slump in profits. M&S also face increasingly difficult trading conditions and they have fallen from grace with the City since those heady days of £7.50p per share valuations just last year. Their current share price of £2 speaks volumes about investors’ opinions on their short to medium-term prospects!
Utility companies tend to have much more of a charmed, ‘dull-but-steady’ existence, fairing well through the tougher trading periods but, conversely, fairly unexciting through the good times too. SSE, one of the ‘big six’ domestic energy suppliers with around 8.5 million customers, will want to use this new link with M&S to reach additional customers and grow its market share. M&S will be happy to have the new revenue stream to hopefully prop up losses in some of its more ‘sensitive’ product lines.
So, it may have all the makings of being a sensible deal for both parties but what about the poor consumer? Will M&S customers be getting a great deal? Would they be better off than buying direct from energy suppliers in the open market? Only time will tell but I doubt it.
I don’t think a few vouchers could ever persuade me to stick with just one energy supplier purely because M&S choose to recommend them. However much I like M&S as a purveyor of good food, boxer shorts and socks, I won’t be fooled into trusting them to supply my every need! There are far too many deals and incentives in the energy market that make it more lucrative to regularly switch my supplier to save money. The vouchers simply don’t compensate for the potential savings lost. However, if M&S ever get the confidence to guarantee the best prices in the marketplace and they promise to take the leg work out of constantly switching supplier for me… then I might just reconsider.
Article by Alan Potts
Gas Boiler reviews and ALL you need to know about home heating, gas boilers and home energy supply from BUYability Limited CEO: Alan Potts.
Filed under Home Insurance by on Apr 26th, 2010. Comment.