When Your Home Fire Won't be Covered by Insurance

5/11/2022 (Permalink)

2 Types of Fires That Are Not Covered By Home Insurance

A home fire in Maple Grove, MN can be overwhelming. While an emergency restoration services company can help with the fire cleanup, you still have to replace your belongings and possibly find a new place to live. That is why you need insurance that covers fire damage.
Homeowners’ insurance typically covers damage to the structure of your house and your personal items within the property. It also covers and moving expenses. This insurance typically covers a variety of perils, including:

• Theft
• Smoke
• Vandalism
• Lightning
• Fire
  
  

However, there are two types of fires that are not usually covered by home insurance. They are a vacant home fire and an arson insurance fraud fire.

Vacant House Fire

A home fire in a vacant house may not be covered by a typical insurance policy. A vacant house is usually defined as one that has not been occupied for at least 30 straight days. This means that a fire to a winter or summer home can be considered vacant.
If you know that you will not be in your house for an extended period of time, you can choose to buy vacant home insurance. This will cover you in case a fire or other disaster damaged the house while it is unoccupied.

Arson Insurance Fraud

Some property owners intentionally set fires to their homes in an attempt to receive money from their insurance company. However, insurers have become fully aware of this practice and know how to spot evidence of suspicious fires. Insurance companies will thus send their own investigators to the scene to determine whether the fire was intentionally set. If they conclude that the homeowner started the fire on purpose, the insurance claim will be denied.
If your house wasn’t vacant at the time of the fire, and if you didn’t intentionally set the home fire, the fire damage cleanup should be covered by your insurance policy. This will help you return to your normal life more quickly.