When you own a home, you may have extenuating circumstances and/or own property that your insurance may not cover.
In fact, there may be risks in your home that you never thought of and that won't be covered by your homeowner's policy. Fortunately, there are a number of extra coverage options you can add on to your policy which are known as endorsements.
Here are five that you should be aware of, as recommended by the insurance trade publication National Underwriter.
'Additional Insured Residence Premises'
This endorsement is specifically for people who have an ownership interest in a property but don't live there.
This could come in handy for you if you are helping your adult children out when buying a home and you want to protect your part of the investment should the house be damaged or destroyed in a calamity.
'Other Members of Your Household'
This coverage is becoming more and more important as more people cohabitate. While you may own a house and live with a boyfriend or girlfriend (not a spouse) and consider them a member of the household, the insurance company would not consider them insured and their personal property would not be covered in case of damage or theft in a covered event.
This endorsement would cover their property. Anyone whose property would be covered has to be explicitly named in the policy.
An additional insured cannot be a guest, household employee, tenant or boarder. Whomever you intend to cover must me identified by name on the endorsement.
'Other Structures Increased Limits'
Maybe you've built a new man cave — a small cottage in the back yard outfitted with a giant plasma TV, nice sound system and bar.
However, since it's a detached structure, your homeowner's policy may not likely cover the entirety of the loss, should it burn down or suffer some other damage or theft.
Under the typical homeowner's policy, other structures are covered at 10% of the policy limits. So, if your home is insured for $400,000, your other structures would be insured for 10% of that — $40,000.
This endorsement will provide additional coverage for sheds, your man cave, grandmother's cottage, gazebos, patios, barbeque pits, play equipment and other items in your backyard.
'Mechanical Breakdown'
This endorsement covers the mechanical failure of household appliances like: central air conditioning, central vacuums, chairlifts and elevators, electric vehicle charging stations, heating systems, including water heaters, home automation and security systems, saunas, hot tubs, therapeutic baths, swimming pool pumps and filtration systems, stoves, wall ovens, refrigerators, well-water pumps, and sump pumps.
Insurance companies typically offer between $10,000 and $50,000 in homeowners equipment breakdown coverage, but higher amounts may be available. The specific systems and equipment covered by equipment breakdown will vary by provider.
'Limited Water Back-up and Sump Discharge or Overflow'
While your policy will cover damage from a sump pump back-up or overflow, it won't cover the cost of a sump pump that breaks down. This endorsement will cover that.
Give us a call if you want to discuss your current coverage.