Winter travel - leaving your house

[Carol H]

"In review of your home policy it sounds like you would be okay."


gezz thats as clear as mud answer to what should have IMO been a simple yes or no answer....

The above is why I have a people check the house daily to try and keep the damages/losses to a minimum in the event something goes wrong.

[RogerDat]

I too was told there is a fine/cost associated with the DIY alarm if it calls in a false emergency call so setting it to dial 911 was a bad idea. I did like the idea of alarm calling myself, family or a neighbor.

Problem is we like so many people dropped our land line in favor of having that number on a mobile phone, saved about $60 each month since the mobile is just a $10 add-a-phone on our plan. No phone line = no phone call from alarm.

We do back up our digital photos to a portable drive which we leave with family, figure if the house was broken into computer will get stolen, pictures are the one thing we would not be able to replace with homeowners insurance.

[Byron Kinnaman]

Originally Posted by Carol H

"In review of your home policy it sounds like you would be okay."


gezz thats as clear as mud answer to what should have IMO been a simple yes or no answer....

The above is why I have a people check the house daily to try and keep the damages/losses to a minimum in the event something goes wrong.

And this is why I don't worry about it.
31. Vacancy or vacant - means:
a. no one is legally using the dwelling as a principal place of abode; and
b. a predominant amount of persona property has been removed or is absent from the dwelling.

[Jim Bennett]

Bryon, would it not still be your principal residence? Travelling in an RV would not exclude it from being so. Vacant seems to refer to nobody having intent to live there at all.

My insurance company clearly stated that we have to have someone go through the house every 2 or 3 days (I forget which). We ran into a real hassle with a rental property of ours that had sewer backup, and we found out the tenant had not been there for a couple weeks, as he was working out of town. We had a bit of a hassle with the insurance company, but fortunately there were tenants upstairs that shared a common area for laundry in the basement. It was them that discovered the problem, but they actually had not done laundry for about 5 days when they noticed.

[Glenn Baglo]

I have a clause in mine that says I have to notify the insurance company if it is going to be vacant for 30 days or more ( this is under a mortgage section ). So, that may be similar to your clause 31.
I think that's separate from having the responsibility to have someone look in on the place every few days.
I wouldn't be comfortable with the answer you got from your agent. For one, they don't declare that you definitely are covered if nobody checks the house.
Imagine: you leave and a week later your plumbing springs a small leak. You return two months later and try to claim for damages that would have been mitigated had you had the house checked from time to time. Do you trust your insurance company to pay out for full damages?
CBC Marketplace just did a show on insurance companies and how they manage to avoid paying claims.

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by Glenn Baglo

CBC Marketplace just did a show on insurance companies and how they manage to avoid paying claims.

It can be near criminal. I know of many instances here in Calgary after the flooding where they offer WAY less than the work would cost.

On one customers basement that we had finished 18 months earlier, one cost they assessed was $175 to replace an interior door with casings and jambs. This includes material and labour to pick up and install. My cost on the solid maple shaker door slabs was $170, before markup, and this included no labour or the jambs and casings. My cost estimates for repair was 50% higher, and there is absolutely no way that the insurance company could do it for the price they gave, something is fishy there.

I could go on and on with issues I have had with insurance companies over the years. Basically, you just keep doling out money for premiums, and hope like hell you never have to use it.