Homeowners' Insurance Changes

[DDeFrain]

I will start off by saying that I live in Michigan and we recently received notice that our house insurance was up for renewal in November and the company was not going to renew the policy. The reasons they gave was missing siding (due to high winds) and the condition of the outbuildings. We called and informed them the siding had been replaced for almost 4 months, and the outbuildings are in the exact same shape they had been in when we began the policy through them.

We were then told that the company had new underwriters who had new rules, one of which was if the outbuildings were not up to their standards they would refuse to insure the home. And we are not allowed to simply take the outbuildings off the policy and insure only the home.

Is this an acceptable policy? It doesn't seem to make sense that they are basically telling us we are not allowed to have insurance on our home.

Thank you for your help,
Danielle DeFrain

 

[ALawyer]

Why not? We live in a capitalistic society and why shouldn't an insurance company be able to say what risks it is willing to continue to write or reject once the policy period is over? (AT LEAST if they are not discriminating on the basis of sex, race, color, etc.) If they are stupid and reject good risks it costs them lost opportunity to profit; if they write bad risks, the lose money.

If you don't like it your state insurance department may be able to explain it.

 

[DDeFrain]

Thank you for your response. I can see how the outbuildings would be considered a bad risk, but the house is a different matter altogether having been recently remodeled with new electricity throughout.

However, I see your point. We are forced to abide by their abrupt policy change since they have the right to make us do so.

Again, I thank you.