Homeowner Insurance Claims
Anyone who owns a home and has a mortgage likely has home insurance also known as homeowner’s insurance or hazard insurance. It affords homeowners important coverage in the event of a loss. If you are like most homeowners, you pay your mortgage payments and insurance payments timely for years, if not decades. Then something happens – a pipe burst in your home causing water damage, a strong wind storm damaged your roof and caused a leak, mold, a fire, or some other event which causes damage to your property. You file a claim and are shocked at the carrier’s estimate (or underestimate) of your damages, you are mortified at how such estimate compares to the actual cost to repair the damage to your home when. It is a fact pattern that we see all too often, the gross under payment or undervalued damages for which the insurance company is trying to settle is simply unfair. Alternatively, they may deny your claim entirely for reasons that you do not believe are just. Know this – you are not alone.
The simple truth is, it is not in your insurance company’s best interest to pay you everything you are due under your policy. Some treat you fairly, however, other Insurance companies routinely do not pay out until there is a substantial fight on your part. They have an army of estimators, engineers, contactors, and consultants at their disposal whose job sometimes depend on how often they determine there is no coverage or the amounts of loss they find their employers should pay. Oftentimes, when a homeowner or business owner files a claim with their home insurance carrier, they are shocked at the adversarial process that is commenced from the very first phone call.
Common Florida Homeowner’s Insurance Claims
Homeowner’s insurance claims in Florida are not limited to hurricanes. Hurricane damage and the associated exterior wind damage is certainly one of the most common kinds of home insurance claims. However, non-weather related water damage is the second most common type of damage that gives rise to a home insurance claim. This kind of water damage claim typically arises from plumbing or appliance issues. Some of the claims my office has handled includes garbarge disposal failure, dishwasher failure, sudden and accidental toilet overflow, and broke pipes or burst pipes.A number of property owners are surprised to hear these kinds of events and the associated water damage is oftentimes covered under their policy.
Most Common Florida Homeowner’s Insurance Claims:
- Wind Damage
- Hurricane Damage from wind
- Tornado damage from wind
- Other wind related damage from strong storms
- Water Damage that is not weather related
- Pipe burst
- Drainage backup
- Appliance failure (dishwasher, garbage disposal)
- AC Leak
- Shower Pan Leak
- Hail
- Weather related water damage
- Theft
- Fire
- Mold
How to file a Homeowner Insurance Claim
How to make a claim home insurance? First, document everything. Document the damage by taking pictures. Second, contact your insurance company and promptly inform them about the loss. Third, mitigate as much as possible. Fourth, comply with the insurance companies’ reasonable requests for information. If you find these requests intrusive or somewhat overwhelming, you would not be alone and most people feel the same way. Hiring a professional to assist throughout the process may be in order. Contact our office to see how we can help. If your insurance company pays you and you are happy with what they paid you, great. If, however, you are like a great proportion of people and have confronted this claims process only to find that your insurance company has underpaid your claim or undervalued your damages, it is time to give us a call.
Property Insurance Claim Lawyer in Orlando
In some cases, an insurance company will pay you far less than what you need to repair the property to its pre-loss condition. Also, an insurance company may even deny a homeowner’s insurance claim that the homeowner believes was covered. In Florida, you are entitled to have the reason for the denial put in writing. You do not have to accept the insurance company’s underpayment or their estimate of the damage if you believe the amount is not fair, reasonable, and adequate. Please contact our staff today to get in touch with an Orlando Property Damage Attorney.