The Value of a Comprehensive Home Insurance Coverage

A funny thing happened to one of our clients the other day. She lives in a condo with two kids under 3 years old. One day, she started smelling something bad coming out of her second bathroom so she called her property manager to complain and the property manager told her to call a plumber.

The next day, a plumber came in and told her that since she doesn't use that shower that she should just run the shower for a while and the smell should go away.

She did as the plumber suggested but the smell didn't go away. In fact, it just got worst each day. She called the plumber again and the plumber said he couldn't figure out what was wrong. So he decided to remove the wall to find out if there was a broken sewer line which could be the source of the smell. Once the wall was taken out, the smell got even worst, in fact, 10 times as worst. She described it as like hitting a wall of stink and it was unbearable.

The plumber found nothing wrong and said the smell must be coming from the apartment below. So she called her property manager and told him that they have to go into that apartment below and find out the source of the smell.

The property manager called the owners, and it turns out that the owners don't live there but their brother did and promised to go there later in the day to check it out.

Well, the owners didn't actually check out the apartment until the next day and when they did, guess what they found? It turns out the brother died while in the tub, maybe from a heart attack. The brother has been dead for more than three weeks and nobody even bothered to check in on the brother the whole time.

So what is the point of this story other than sharing a morbid story.

Well, our client could't stay in her apartment because the smell was unbearable, especially with two kids under 3 years old. She was talking to her neighbor and who was wondering what to do. Our client told her that she will be checking with her insurance company if the company will pay for the cleanup and for her to move out. She asked her neighbor if she had home insurance said that she doesn't because she's just renting and didn't see the need for having insurance and asked if insurance would have paid for it.

Fortunately, our client has a comprehensive condominium insurance policy which is an All Risk policy. This means that all perils are covered unless specifically excluded in the policy. This policy also includes coverage for Additional Living Expense and this coverage will pay for her food and lodging until her place has been cleaned up.

Additionally, her insurance will pay to move her stuff out of her apartment to be cleaned and put in storage then return them once the apartment has been sanitized. The cost for the removal, cleanup and return of her personal property alone is $5,000.

You wouldn't normally think that something like a bad smell would be covered by your home insurance. But under a Comprehensive policy, it does, especially in this situation. That's why it pays to have a Comprehensive Insurance policy because it covers unusual situations like these.

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