Additional Living Expenses

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What are additional living expenses?

Additional living expenses are typically included as a coverage in homeowner property insurance policies under “Loss of Use.” In a recent blog post, Is Your Insurance Company Threatening to Prematurely Terminate Loss of Use Benefits, Merlin Law Group attorney Dan Veroff discussed Loss of Use benefits and what carriers are doing to curtail those benefits prematurely. As stated in that blog post, Loss of Use benefits are intended to cover the cost of temporary placement when the insured premises suffers a covered loss that renders it unusable until repaired.…
Continue Reading Additional Living Expenses: What Does Your Policy Cover and For How Long?

The President of the United States and the Insurance Commissioner of Louisiana have come out publicly asking insurance companies to pay for customers’ increased living expenses under their homeowners policies. The editors of the FC&S recently published an opinion supporting these requests.…
Continue Reading Hurricane Ida Additional Living Expense Coverage Supported By FC&S Editors

If you lose your home or business, or you simply cannot use the premises until repairs are done, your property insurance policy likely pays a benefit to cover the cost of temporary placement. These “Loss of Use” benefits typically come in two forms, Fair Rental Value and Loss of Use. The former generally pays the fair market rental value based on similar comparisons in your area, while the latter pays only the actual amounts expended to maintain a homeowner’s or renter’s standard of living. Loss of Use benefits are usually paid subject to time and monetary limits – in other words, the carrier pays on a rolling basis until it hits the maximum dollar amount (if there is one) or the maximum time limit, whichever is first.…
Continue Reading Is Your Insurance Company Threatening to Prematurely Terminate Loss of Use Benefits?

New laws enacted last month provide further support for California wildfire claimants by requiring carriers provide additional coverages. Only a few years ago, California enacted laws requiring insurers to provide coverage for Additional Living Expenses (ALE) incurred due to a covered loss relating to a state of emergency – almost every massive wildfire – for a period of no less than 24 months. (California Insurance Code Section 2060(b)(1).)…
Continue Reading New California Law Require Insurers to Pay Up to 36 Months of Additional Living Expenses and Advance at Least Four Months of Payments Following Wildfires

Additional living expenses can create a number of questions about what items of expanse can be claimed following a loss. FC&S is a publication I encourage those in the claims business to subscribe. While reading the Question and Answer section of the FC&S Coverage Insider, the following additional living expense coverage question was posed:

Our insured has an ISO HO 3 policy, 1991 edition, and recently suffered a fire loss. Coverage for her home and contents is not at issue; however, she has had to relocate to a motel until restoration of her home is complete. Prior to the loss, she stored some of her personal property in half of her two-car garage. Because of the fire, she can no longer use this space until repairs have been completed.

The insurance company is questioning two items under additional living expense—the cost to rent a storage space, and the cost to dry clean the clothing she took with her.

We think this is additional living expense, and should be covered. What is your opinion?

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Continue Reading Storage Space and Dry Cleaning—Can These Be Considered Additional Living Expenses Under A Homeowners Policy?

A common theme I have noticed lately is the tendency of homeowners, having just weathered a major natural disaster, to compare their ability to recover insurance proceeds to that of their neighbors. Wondering if you can recover alternative living expenses? Curious to know if you can recover for your sewage back-up claim? Rather than looking to your neighbor’s recovery for answers, make sure to check your homeowners insurance policy.…
Continue Reading My neighbor had coverage, so why was I denied?

The buzz amongst policyholders about what insurance owe for additional living expenses due to the Northern California Wildfires is still going strong as Southern California braces this week for Santa Ana winds. With predicted gusts up to 70 mph, Southern Californians are in real danger of the potential for wildfires. Recently, I’ve received quite a few calls from victims of the Northern California wildfires asking what their rights are under their additional living expenses portion of their insurance policies. Most policies limit policyholders to one year of additional living expenses (ALE) or the reasonable time to rebuild. In the recent Northern California wildfires, California Governor Jerry Brown declared a State of Emergency which means that every policyholder with proper additional living expense coverage under their policy has an extension of an additional year for ALE.…
Continue Reading California Wildfires Declared State of Emergency – How Does That Impact My Additional Living Expenses?

We recently had a request for a blog topic discussing additional living expenses (“ALE”) options following the loss of a home and subsequent evacuation. Under many insurance policies, not only is your real and personal property covered, but you may be entitled to additional living expenses, meaning food and housing costs, relocation, storage, meals when there’s no access to a kitchen, furniture rentals, and additional transportation expenses.…
Continue Reading What Are Your Temporary Housing and Additional Living Expenses Options Following a Devastating Property Loss In California?

Last Thursday, October 26, 2017, I had the privilege to be on KSRO 1350 AM/103.5 FM, Sonoma County’s News Talk Radio Morning News, to discuss the wildfire aftermath as communities are looking to begin rebuilding their lives with their insurance proceeds.…
Continue Reading California Wildfires Bring the Need for Additional Living Expense Payments of Insurance Policy Proceeds

In this unreported New York decision,1 Steven Hirth filed suit for breach of contract on a homeowner’s insurance policy after American Insurance Company (AIC) denied coverage for additional living expenses (ALE). On August 12, 2012 Hirth’s apartment sustained water damage when another apartment in his building had a water issue that damaged Mr. Hirth’s apartment so severely, he and his family were forced to evacuate and arrange for lodging elsewhere. AIC paid him $208,108.63 for damage to the apartment and for contents. AIC also paid an additional $10,725.38 in ALE for the Hirth’s hotel stay from August 26 through September 1, 2012. AIC also offered to pay for a comparable hotel in New York City for an additional four months (the period of restoration). Hirth disagreed with AIC’s estimate of the cost of the hotel and instead entered into a short-term sublease at $22,500 per month (AIC originally offered $40,000 per month). The repairs to his apartment took almost two years, and the apartment could not be occupied until July 1, 2014. Hirth declined to provide certain documents to AIC without a confidentiality agreement and AIC declined any further payment for ALE. Hirth filed suit on February 24, 2015.

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Continue Reading What is the Date of Loss for Additional Living Expenses