Is a Renters Insurance policy legal for a Homeowner to have?

[Subjection1]

There are insurance companies that will insure a home with a bad roof. But any damage that results from having a bad roof will be excluded from coverage and the policy is apt to be more expensive. That is why you need to fix the roof as soon as possible. On a house built in the 1800s, you might need a renovation specialist.

Is there a way to temporarily move your more valuable belongings to a storage unit?

But why?

 

[quincy]

But why?

“But why” what?

Why will an insurance company exclude from coverage a bad roof? Too high a risk to insure.

Why might you need a renovation specialist for a roof? Houses constructed in the 1800s can have quirks that modern houses don’t - although if the roof is only 21 years old, that might not be a problem with your house.

Why might you want to move valuables to a storage unit that can be insured? To insure them.

 

[not2cleverRed]

But why?

For the same reason why, if you are a renter, property damage due to a leaky roof is not covered. (It's the landlord's responsibility to maintain a functioning roof, not the tenant. I've experienced more than one roof leak when renting.)

In your situation: you have already had problems getting insurance due to the condition of your roof. Because they believe that the probability of a claim will be too high. If you get insurance that covers the contents of your house only, it makes sense that it would only cover loss and damage due to other things than maintenance related failures. The only way for you to get coverage that will cover damage due to a roof leak would be to fix whatever the issue insurers are having with your roof AND get insurance that includes the roof.

Quick answer to "Is it legal" for you to have renter's insurance as a homeowner: sure, it's *legal*, however it's also *legal* for the insurance not to pay out if you make a claim and it is found that you have violated the terms of their policy, especially if it's due to some form of misrepresentation in their eyes.

 

[Subjection1]

“But why” what?

Why will an insurance company exclude from coverage a bad roof? Too high a risk to insure.

Why might you need a renovation specialist for a roof? Houses constructed in the 1800s can have quirks that modern houses don’t - although if the roof is only 21 years old, that might not be a problem with your house.

Why might you want to move valuables to a storage unit that can be insured? To insure them.

I was asking "But why?" to your question, "Is there a way to temporarily move your more valuable belongings to a storage unit?"
It was confusing because I still live in my home, and that's where I need my things to be so I can use them. Getting Renter's insurance or "contents" insurance for my home would give my things protection there. At least, that's my understanding of how it works.
Wouldn't contents insurance or renter's insurance cover my belongings while inside my home?

 

[Subjection1]

For the same reason why, if you are a renter, property damage due to a leaky roof is not covered. (It's the landlord's responsibility to maintain a functioning roof, not the tenant. I've experienced more than one roof leak when renting.)

In your situation: you have already had problems getting insurance due to the condition of your roof. Because they believe that the probability of a claim will be too high. If you get insurance that covers the contents of your house only, it makes sense that it would only cover loss and damage due to other things than maintenance related failures. The old way for you to get coverage that will cover damage due to a roof leak would be to fix whatever the issue insurers are having with your roof AND get insurance that includes the roof.

Quick answer to "Is it legal" for you to have renter's insurance as a homeowner: sure, it's *legal*, however it's also *legal* for the insurance not to pay out if you make a claim and it is found that you have violated the terms of their policy, especially if it's due to some form of misrepresentation in their eyes.

Ok, well my roof is actually not in bad condition to where leaks are happening, and we've been having some pretty heavy downpours lately. The issues with my roof are only cosmetic, as in the ridge cap shingles which I'm told are only decorative and don't serve a water-proofing function. The rest of the shingles are fine. It would seem that my roofer from 21 years ago used cheaper shingles for the ridge cap areas for some reason. Also, there is some moss growing on mostly the north-facing sides. I plan on treating that myself to get rid of it if I can't just get the roof replaced soon.

So I'm not too concerned about personal property loss due to leaks in the roof, but rather burglary, fire, tornados, etc. Also, liability coverage that comes with renter's insurance would be nice to have as well. I know none of this covers my house, but it's still a great deal more than just giving up on having insurance altogether. With renter's insurance costing only around $100 a year, it's not a big price to pay.

FWIW, I have 2 appointments set up with roofing contractors (after reaching out to 6) to take a look at my roof and give me an estimate. One on the 23rd and one on the 30th. Neither could do any work until at least September, and that's if they agree to do it at all. When I had my roof done 21 years ago, it was a nightmare of a process! I started out by calling a roofer my Dad had used based on his recommendation. They never came to my house to give a quote. Then I started calling all the ones I'd heard good things about, and none of them came and met with me. So then I ended up calling every roofer in the phone book with the same results. Finally, I talked to a friend who had a neighbor that had just had their roof done by a handyman who does roofing work as a side job. I ended up calling him, and he actually did mine. Demanded all cash at the end, and refused to even give me a receipt until I finally wrote up a note for him to sign that indicated that I fulfilled all financial responsibilities for the work he did (with no dollar amount mentioned).

Back then, I wasn't even in danger of losing my insurance. I got the roof done at that time because there actually had been a leak, and I was told by a roofer that it was in bad shape when I had them put a patch on the leak. The roof had 3 layers of shingles on it. That's how it was when I bought it. The inspector I hired to look at it before I bought the house said it looked like it had about 15 years left of life. It only lasted 4.

 

[AlmostThere]

Ok, well my roof is actually not in bad condition to where leaks are happening, and we've been having some pretty heavy downpours lately. The issues with my roof are only cosmetic, as in the ridge cap shingles which I'm told are only decorative and don't serve a water-proofing function. The rest of the shingles are fine. It would seem that my roofer from 21 years ago used cheaper shingles for the ridge cap areas for some reason. Also, there is some moss growing on mostly the north-facing sides. I plan on treating that myself to get rid of it if I can't just get the roof replaced soon.

The insurance companies feel differently about the state of your house. Again, they really want your money. They don't care if your roof is pretty. They care that it is not going to fail.

Google tells me that ridge shingles are not just decorative, and are water protection between where the shingles on each side of the ridge cap meet.

In the end, you need insurance, and your opinion of the worthiness of the roof is not what matters.

FWIW, I have 2 appointments set up with roofing contractors (after reaching out to 6) to take a look at my roof and give me an estimate. One on the 23rd and one on the 30th. Neither could do any work until at least September, and that's if they agree to do it at all. When I had my roof done 21 years ago, it was a nightmare of a process! I started out by calling a roofer my Dad had used based on his recommendation. They never came to my house to give a quote. Then I started calling all the ones I'd heard good things about, and none of them came and met with me. So then I ended up calling every roofer in the phone book with the same results. Finally, I talked to a friend who had a neighbor that had just had their roof done by a handyman who does roofing work as a side job. I ended up calling him, and he actually did mine. Demanded all cash at the end, and refused to even give me a receipt until I finally wrote up a note for him to sign that indicated that I fulfilled all financial responsibilities for the work he did (with no dollar amount mentioned).

Yes, the last time I had roofing work done, it was hard to convince roofers to come out and give estimates. And when they did, I had several quotes that each had different approaches to ventilation, replacing damaged boards, etc. And a wide range of prices from X to more than 2x. The hard part about roofers is that even if you get a few recommendations, either they are recent customers who can't speak to the longer-term wear and tear of the roof, or they are from long enough ago, that it is likely the crew that installed their crew is also long gone.

Back then, I wasn't even in danger of losing my insurance. I got the roof done at that time because there actually had been a leak, and I was told by a roofer that it was in bad shape when I had them put a patch on the leak. The roof had 3 layers of shingles on it. That's how it was when I bought it. The inspector I hired to look at it before I bought the house said it looked like it had about 15 years left of life. It only lasted 4.

An inspector is not a roofer. And things can happen that will shorten the life of your roof. In my case, a bathroom vent pipe broke, allowing moist air to enter my attic. This [promoted mold growth and reduced the estimated 15-year lifespan of my roof to only about a year or so. This $5 part failure cost about 17K ..

 

[Subjection1]

The insurance companies feel differently about the state of our house. Again, they really want your money. They don't care if your roof is pretty. They care that it is not going to fail.

Google tells me that ridge shingles are not just decorative, and are water protection between where the shingles on each side of the ridge cap meet.

In the end, you need insurance, and your opinion of the worthiness of the roof is not what matters.




Yes, the last time I had roofing work done, it was hard to convince roofers to come out and give estimates. And when they did, I had several quotes that each had different approaches to ventilation, replacing damaged boards, etc. And a wide range of prices from X to more than 2x. The hard part about roofers is that even if you get a few recommendations, either they are recent customers who can't speak to the longer-term wear and tear of the roof, or they are from long enough ago, that it is likely the crew that installed their crew is also long gone.



An inspector is not a roofer. And things can happen that will shorten the life of your roof. In my case, a bathroom vent pipe broke, allowing moist air to enter my attic. This [promoted mold growth and reduced the estimated 15-year lifespan of my roof to only about a year or so. This $5 part failure cost about 17K ..

Looks like the advice I got about it 5 years ago on another site wasn't so great. I looked and found where I started a thread about it on a DIY forum. Here's where I posted a couple pictures at the time: https://handymanwire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/959413/re-why-are-some-of-my-shingles-going-bad#Post959413

Maybe it wasn't even on that thread, but I do remember someone there telling me that ridge cap shingles are decorative only, and that's why roofers will use cheaper material for them. That's why I stopped worrying about those. Now an inspector uses it to cancel my insurance, and I'm told that they are quite important after all.
My Dad and I had been planning on selling our houses and getting one together. I sure wish we had succeeded in doing so before the housing market got tight. I wouldn't mind selling this house and being DONE with it all.

 

[quincy]

Ok, well my roof is actually not in bad condition to where leaks are happening, and we've been having some pretty heavy downpours lately. The issues with my roof are only cosmetic, as in the ridge cap shingles which I'm told are only decorative and don't serve a water-proofing function. The rest of the shingles are fine. It would seem that my roofer from 21 years ago used cheaper shingles for the ridge cap areas for some reason. Also, there is some moss growing on mostly the north-facing sides. I plan on treating that myself to get rid of it if I can't just get the roof replaced soon.

So I'm not too concerned about personal property loss due to leaks in the roof, but rather burglary, fire, tornados, etc. Also, liability coverage that comes with renter's insurance would be nice to have as well. I know none of this covers my house, but it's still a great deal more than just giving up on having insurance altogether. With renter's insurance costing only around $100 a year, it's not a big price to pay.

FWIW, I have 2 appointments set up with roofing contractors (after reaching out to 6) to take a look at my roof and give me an estimate. One on the 23rd and one on the 30th. Neither could do any work until at least September, and that's if they agree to do it at all. When I had my roof done 21 years ago, it was a nightmare of a process! I started out by calling a roofer my Dad had used based on his recommendation. They never came to my house to give a quote. Then I started calling all the ones I'd heard good things about, and none of them came and met with me. So then I ended up calling every roofer in the phone book with the same results. Finally, I talked to a friend who had a neighbor that had just had their roof done by a handyman who does roofing work as a side job. I ended up calling him, and he actually did mine. Demanded all cash at the end, and refused to even give me a receipt until I finally wrote up a note for him to sign that indicated that I fulfilled all financial responsibilities for the work he did (with no dollar amount mentioned).

Back then, I wasn't even in danger of losing my insurance. I got the roof done at that time because there actually had been a leak, and I was told by a roofer that it was in bad shape when I had them put a patch on the leak. The roof had 3 layers of shingles on it. That's how it was when I bought it. The inspector I hired to look at it before I bought the house said it looked like it had about 15 years left of life. It only lasted 4.

The fact that you hired a handyman 21 years ago to replace your roof, who probably was not licensed or insured, and who probably did not pull a permit to do the roofing work, and who probably did not provide any warranty, could be one major reason why insurance companies are reluctant to insure you now. The discovery of unpermitted work often voids homeowners insurance coverage.

You can still sell your house but you need to disclose the known problems with the house and probably will need to sell at a heavily discounted price to cover the costs for the buyer of making necessary repairs (roof, tree trimming, chimney repairs, etc).

 

[Subjection1]

The fact that you hired a handyman 21 years ago to replace your roof, who probably was not licensed or insured, and who probably did not pull a permit to do the roofing work, and who probably did not provide any warranty, could be one major reason why insurance companies are reluctant to insure you now. The discovery of unpermitted work often voids homeowners insurance coverage.

You can still sell your house but you need to disclose the known problems with the house and probably will need to sell at a heavily discounted price to cover the costs for the buyer of making necessary repairs (roof, tree trimming, chimney repairs, etc).

If the handyman hadn't done it, it would never have gotten done, and then I would have been in a worse situation. But I ended up with a new roof, which would seem to be the most important thing.

You're correct on all assumptions: I don't know if he was licensed, but he wasn't insured. I asked him and he said "no", which I figured meant that my insurance would be what covered him in case of an accident (which he came very close to having at one point). He didn't pull a permit, but it was over a holiday weekend, and he figured nobody from the city would be out looking for such things anyway. Besides, I heard permits are needed for roofing replacements. They're only if I was adding something or making a major alteration. This was just replacing shingles. And no, there was no warranty since there was no paperwork. I asked for paperwork, and he said there didn't need to be any. It allowed him to keep raising the price on me when he found "issues" that were unexpected.

However, the insurance companies don't know any of this. In fact, they're just taking my word for it when I tell them it's 21 years old. I have no papers to prove it.

Could you speculate on why none of the roofing contractors would even meet with me to give me a quote for doing my roof? It's the whole reason why I ended up hiring this handyman. Right now, I have made appointments to meet with three different roofing contractors over the next two weeks. I have no idea what they are going to charge me, or even if they'd be willing to do the work. If things turn out the way they did 21 years ago, they won't even show up at my house to give me a quote. Do you have any ideas why contractors have been shunning me like this? Other people get their roofs redone all the time around here. What makes my house so different? The houses in my neighborhood are all about the same age. The problem I'm having with contractors isn't just roofers. I had the same experience with concrete work I needed done so I wouldn't get fined $300 per day by the health department awhile back. None would come to my house to do the work.

 

[quincy]

If the handyman hadn't done it, it would never have gotten done, and then I would have been in a worse situation. But I ended up with a new roof, which would seem to be the most important thing.

You're correct on all assumptions: I don't know if he was licensed, but he wasn't insured. I asked him and he said "no", which I figured meant that my insurance would be what covered him in case of an accident (which he came very close to having at one point). He didn't pull a permit, but it was over a holiday weekend, and he figured nobody from the city would be out looking for such things anyway. Besides, I heard permits are needed for roofing replacements. They're only if I was adding something or making a major alteration. This was just replacing shingles. And no, there was no warranty since there was no paperwork. I asked for paperwork, and he said there didn't need to be any. It allowed him to keep raising the price on me when he found "issues" that were unexpected.

However, the insurance companies don't know any of this. In fact, they're just taking my word for it when I tell them it's 21 years old. I have no papers to prove it.

Could you speculate on why none of the roofing contractors would even meet with me to give me a quote for doing my roof? It's the whole reason why I ended up hiring this handyman. Right now, I have made appointments to meet with three different roofing contractors over the next two weeks. I have no idea what they are going to charge me, or even if they'd be willing to do the work. If things turn out the way they did 21 years ago, they won't even show up at my house to give me a quote. Do you have any ideas why contractors have been shunning me like this? Other people get their roofs redone all the time around here. What makes my house so different? The houses in my neighborhood are all about the same age. The problem I'm having with contractors isn't just roofers. I had the same experience with concrete work I needed done so I wouldn't get fined $300 per day by the health department awhile back. None would come to my house to do the work.

Do I have any ideas why you are having difficulty finding a roofer? Sure, I have ideas but I don’t know if any of them are the reasons in your case.

One reason could be the large number of claims submitted by homeowners in your state so far this year for roof repairs and replacements due to storm damage. There are not an unlimited number of contractors and they all could be scheduled up and cannot take on new jobs right now.

Another reason could be the type of house you own. As I said earlier, houses built in the 1800s, early 1900s, were constructed with roofs unlike those we commonly see today, often with steeper pitches and often with different roof “parts” on a single house (e.g., assorted gables, turrets, towers). Many contractors shy away from tackling these nonstandard roofs because they require more work.

It could be that they think your roof in its current condition is likely to reveal more problems below the shingles than they want to handle.

In other words, I don’t know why you are having difficulty finding a roofer. It could be something I mentioned above, a combination of what I mentioned above, or something else entirely.

You are not in an enviable position.

 

[Subjection1]

Do I have any ideas why you are having difficulty finding a roofer? Sure, I have ideas but I don’t know if any of them are the reasons in your case.

One reason could be the large number of claims submitted by homeowners in your state so far this year for roof repairs and replacements due to storm damage. There are not an unlimited number of contractors and they all could be scheduled up and cannot take on new jobs right now.

Another reason could be the type of house you own. As I said earlier, houses built in the 1800s, early 1900s, were constructed with roofs unlike those we commonly see today, often with steeper pitches and often with different roof “parts” on a single house (e.g., assorted gables, turrets, towers). Many contractors shy away from tackling these nonstandard roofs because they require more work.

It could be that they think your roof in its current condition is likely to reveal more problems below the shingles than they want to handle.

In other words, I don’t know why you are having difficulty finding a roofer. It could be something I mentioned above, a combination of what I mentioned above, or something else entirely.

You are not in an enviable position.

I can understand what you mean about the different angles in the roof, with some being steep being a problem. But all the other houses around me area like that, and most are bigger.
But a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are 4 pics of my house. The 4th one is when I was up on the garage years ago. It shows a unique angle. <blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" lang="en" data-id="a/w0KHK5b" ><a href="//imgur.com/a/w0KHK5b">My house</a></blockquote><script async src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

If it doesn't show up, try this link: imgur.com/a/house-w0KHK5b

 

[quincy]

I can understand what you mean about the different angles in the roof, with some being steep being a problem. But all the other houses around me area like that, and most are bigger.
But a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are 4 pics of my house. The 4th one is when I was up on the garage years ago. It shows a unique angle. <blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" lang="en" data-id="a/w0KHK5b" ><a href="//imgur.com/a/w0KHK5b">My house</a></blockquote><script async src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

If it doesn't show up, try this link: imgur.com/a/house-w0KHK5b

Your links don’t work but that’s okay. If the roof pitch or angles do not appear to be a problem, I suspect the contractors just have as many jobs as they can handle right now.

 

[Subjection1]

Your links don’t work but that’s okay. If the roof pitch or angles do not appear to be a problem, I suspect the contractors just have as many jobs as they can handle right now.

Now it works.

http://imgur.com/ki6S5lH

http://imgur.com/cEpD2Jb

http://imgur.com/Lw4E0fK

http://imgur.com/Cse8t70

 

[quincy]

They seem like they could be the problem. I've done everything I can to show you my pics. I don't know why they don't show up. Seems like everything is screwed up these days.

Links are generally deleted on this forum anyway if they are not government links (.gov) or educational links (.edu) or some non-profit organization links (.org).

And we really don’t need to see pictures of your roof because we would still be guessing as to why you are having difficulty finding a roofing contractor.

Maybe one of the appointments that you’ve lined up will result in your finding a roofer able to do the job for you. Fingers crossed.

 

[Subjection1]

Links are generally deleted on this forum anyway if they are not government links (.gov) or educational links (.edu) or some non-profit organization links (.org).

And we really don’t need to see pictures of your roof because we would still be guessing as to why you are having difficulty finding a roofing contractor.

Maybe one of the appointments that you’ve lined up will result in your finding a roofer able to do the job for you. Fingers crossed.

Can you see my pics now? They're in post #28.