Does Anybody Go Without Homeowners/Property Insurance?

[ovrszd]

I've always carried insurance. 7 years ago I had a catastrophic fire and settled a $165,000 claim. I think I'll continue.

 

[Oldoak]

In this country I think you'd be crazy not having liability insurance at a minimum. No matter how good a friend is now, if he gets injured on your property, you could easily find yourself at the other end of a lawsuit - it's not necessarily your friend suing you, it could be his insurance (you don't really think they want to cough up their own money?). You need your own piranhas on your side, unfortunately.

Exactly! Or worse yet, if your friend was to have an accident on your property and die, his spouse or estate administrator could turn against you and sue. Here in PA, layers would be knocking on their door to take the case even if they originally never intended to sue.

 

[BoylermanCT]

The problem with hiding stuff from your insurance is if you go to make a claim, and they find out about what you are hiding, they can deny your claim. I would find a different company that you can work with. I have Liberty Insurance. They insure the barn and never asked about any animals. They did ask if we were running any business from the property, but we are not, so it was not an issue.

 

[WM75Guy]

We have the Texas Farm Bureau AgVantage policy. Covers everything, land, house, barn, shop, tractors, trailers, and implements. It also covers personal liability, medical payments to others, chemical drift when spraying, animal collision, and recreational land use liability for injuries and property damage of others. It is not the cheapest but covers stuff a regular policy does not. We have a trainer that gives riding lessons at our farm.

Also 46 states, the exceptions being California, Maryland, New York, and Nevada, have enacted legislation providing limited liability for equine activities on your property. In Texas it was expanded in 2011 to include activities involving any farm animals. If you are a farm animal professional you have to post signs, which is a good idea for any one involved in farm animal activities such as letting someone pasture or ride on your property even if you are not doing it for profit. The signs are specific but pretty cheap for the protection they offer.

CIVIL PRACTICE AND REMEDIES CODE CHAPTER 87. LIABILITY ARISING FROM FARM ANIMAL ACTIVITIES OR LIVESTOCK SHOWS

 

[Zerk]

I would call a bunch of insurers. How do they even know the horses are there in the first place?

 

[Zerk]

Insurance can be a deal breaker here in California... for most the killer is being too far from a municipal fire hydrant...

Friends have had to go with Loyd's of London for fire coverage.

Now my brother's place is county but 20' feet away is a city hydrant so all should be good...
.

Just more crazy CA stuff. Most places are miles and miles. My camp may have one 7 miles away. My house within 2 miles. There home 50 miles from one, and they have insurance, just not in CA.

 

[Stimw]

We do have the Equine Sign posted that is used in Florida.
His policy covered the horses at a pro boarders property, they are transferring it to mine.
I did have State Farm write a policy but they canceled after 2 months claiming boarding business, roof not inspected and my credit bad!
My credit is perfect! I paid cash for the property and have over 6 figures in the bank. The horses are not a business. They did charge me an excessive amount for the 2 months, I paid the 1 year premium up front. They made no offer to dispute their claims.
I'm talking to an independent agent now and they are offering a no liability coverage policy and want a 4 page house inspection by licenced inspector. Asking questions like is it Knob and tube wiring, space heaters in use, plumbing leaks!
I have had home owners insurance in Fl. since 1979 but my past agents say they don't write for acreage.

 

[aczlan]

The problem with hiding stuff from your insurance is if you go to make a claim, and they find out about what you are hiding, they can deny your claim. I would find a different company that you can work with. I have Liberty Insurance. They insure the barn and never asked about any animals. They did ask if we were running any business from the property, but we are not, so it was not an issue.

We ran into issues when we looked at getting insurance policy to cover us in case someone got thrown off a horse or something. We had the time had two horses (both ours) and occasionally have friends over to ride or let kids ride for birthday party or something (while one of us holds the reins and leads the horse around).
I don't remember who we had first but the first insurance company we had would not cover any accidents related to horses. The new company (Liberty Mutual) will cover it as long as they're our horses.
Last time and renewed we looked at a couple other companies and one of them had a farm rider which would cover accidents related to animals as well as cover doing things like baling on somebody else's property. We haven't really done that and don't plan to do that so we didn't go that route, but I don't think it was more than $100 different per year.


Aaron Z

 

[Tractor Seabee]

I am having a terrible time finding insurance for my 4 bedroom home on 10 acres.
I am letting a friend keep his 3 horses in my pasture and he is maintaining the pasture and fence. He feeds them daily and I provide water.
Insurance companies say I am running a horse boarding business!
Horse owner has a million dollar rider on him homeowners policy for the horses.
I bought the property 2 years ago and they want to know how old is the roof. ???
It is in decent condition but no permit was pulled on it. My best guess is 10 years old.
If I had to rate the home on a 1-10 I would give it an 8 based on repairs/upgrades I have completed.

I would check out state and local laws before letting anybody use my property.

I am surprised they did not just ask for a certificate of insurance from the border excluding you from their liability with you insurance company as additional insured along with a copy of your rental agreement with the horse border. That agreement is your liability protection even if for $0 attached to the certificate from their insurance CO.

Homeowners insurance always have a clause that any business enterprise located thereon is excluded from the policy provisions. Most people ignore that clause in their auto policy until having a claim denied. There are definitions in all policies that define word meanings. USAA would not cover my hobby farm equipment except for fire or theft at a additional cost rider. Went to KATAC; which covers all casualties for less than USAA wanted for fire and theft.

Conversely business policies also exclude residential use claims and require a certificate of insurance from your homeowner policy company. I went through all this when I was running a consulting business from my home.

I have had 2 robberies at my house covered 100% with no increase in premium. If I had that 6 figures in the bank, discussed later on, I would have casualty insurance at high deductible plus 2-3$M liability. Lawyers love folks with deep pockets and go for the jugular. At today's interest rates I would hide those 6 figures in cash under my mattress. The real interest my turn out to pretty good, maybe like the Carter years when I made a bundle in the money market. Then you worry about IRS and their $10K cash rules.

 

[ultrarunner]

Just more crazy CA stuff. Most places are miles and miles. My camp may have one 7 miles away. My house within 2 miles. There home 50 miles from one, and they have insurance, just not in CA.

Yep... denial or cancellation of fire policies has hit Northern CA rural property very hard...

I looked at two rural properties on the same road exactly 1 mile apart.... one was no problem as there was a fire hydrant nearby and the other was uninsurable except with a Loyds type policy for fire...

It has become so acute that many insurance companies will now write home owner policies excluding fire...

My broker and family friend said underwriters don't care if you have your own fire department onsite or fire pumps, emergency power with fire sprinklers...

Distance from Hydrant is an easy way to deny or cancel coverage which means everything if you need a mortgage.