How Insurance can See You Through household disasters

“Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans”. While there are many bright flashes and silver linings all through life, there are also the gloomy alleys that we have to travel through. And, if things can go wrong they probably will at some stage or the other. So how do you prepare yourself for the unforeseen if you are a property investor or an owner-occupier?

Look twice before buying your home insurance policy

My first recommendation to you would be to get amply insured. When I talk about insurance, I don’t mean those for-the-records kinds with low premiums. They miss out on many key endorsements and there are just too many ‘exclusions to allow them any shred of substance.

Different kinds of insurances you may require

If you are an investor you would be renting your property as soon as you get a chance. This is why a well-chalked out landlord’s insurance policy becomes prerequisite. Even if you are an owner occupier, you cannot rule out the need for either home insurance or content insurance. Let us discuss in brief what these three different types of insurances may cover.

Home insurance

Home insurance covers your home; it’s very structure. The extent of coverage will depend upon the policy you choose. For instance, your policy might secure you against structural damage caused by a storm but may not insure you against air plane debris making a dent in your roof.

Contents insurance

Contents insurance is crucial to insure you against many household disasters. It protects all your belongings. You can claim if there is burglary but again, I reiterate, the extent of compensation would depend upon the policy you choose for yourself. Now let us suppose you accidentally leave your tap unclosed and it causes water-logging in your living room damaging the piano. Can you claim that? Yes, if your policy has optimum endorsements. It is important to keep in mind that you can only claim for personal contents which were damaged, destroyed or burgled away at/from your insured home.

Liability insurance

I equally lobby for a liability insurance that insures you against any injury that befalls you while you are living in the insured home. For instance, think about injury caused due to electrocution owing to naked wires dangling in the basement.

Landlord’s insurance

Now a few words on landlord’s insurance! Investors (and property managers) might sometimes miss out on screening tenants too well and such tenants may cause different types of damages intentionally or accidentally. Falling back on rent is one such fallout of inefficient tenant screening. If you are really unlucky you may even be thrust with tenants who create drug labs out of the alcove space in your home. I won’t even get started on the deliberate wear and tear they can cause to compound your misery. You can be indemnified against all such harassment if you have a strong insurance policy to safeguard you.

Can you narrate an instance where your homeowner’s insurance came in really handy?