Buy Fire and Flood Insurance
Published on 29 August 2022, 07:22:56 AM
Buy Fire and Flood Insurance
Your home and assets are worth protecting.
Home insurance is such a small part of the price of home ownership, don’t go cheap when you could go big. As Southern Ontario families have discovered, it pays to get the best house fire insurance and flood zone protection you can afford.
Axess Law ensures you have a fire insurance binder listing your basic home coverage before your new home purchase is final.
Why to Buy Fire and Flood Insurance
Forest fires and tornados can ravage communities. Before your valuable home or possessions go up in smoke, get some practical home insurance advice.
Ontario home insurers can explain how fire and flood insurance can save you and your family from unnecessary expenses at a difficult time. The last thing you want is to be foreclosed on because your home is worth less than your mortgage!.
That’s why home fire insurance is obligatory for mortgaged properties in Ontario. It covers you and your mortgage lender for losses caused by unexpected events. Fire, flood and other extreme wind or weather events like tornados or severe storms may require special perils coverages. Depending on where you live, you may not qualify or could pay high premiums for the extra assurance fire and flood coverage give you.
It’s another good reason to have an Axess Law real estate lawyer go over your agreement of purchase and sale before you waive subject-to conditions.
What’s Eligible for Flood Insurance
When you have a house in a flood zone at risk during heavy rains or snow melt, ask your insurer if your policy covers:
- overland flooding from lakes or rivers
- inland swells from flash floods
- rain storms that overwhelm local drains
- wildfire damage that prevents soil or trees from absorbing runoff
- or enhanced water damage from extreme storms.
You could pay a minimum $1,000 deductible to add extra perils like flood insurance in Ontario. The higher your deductible, the less you owe. Go for a bigger deductible if the chance of a storm or weather damage is low or higher premiums if you are buying a house in a flood zone.
Exclusions You May Not Know About
Coastal or salt water, storm surges, tsunamis, tidal waves or rising water tables can be excluded from flood insurance policies. Check with your insurer on what to do if you are impacted by exclusions.
Buying Fire and Wildfire Coverage
Fire insurance can even cover damages to third parties when a fire at your home spreads to neighbouring properties. You could pay thousands in damages to repair nearby properties and restore personal possessions if your neighbours file a claim and many more if they are injured or suffer smoke inhalation as a result.
Buying all-perils insurance can protect your investment if you have to make a house fire insurance claim. Reduce your risk by purchasing add-on legal liability insurance for potential injuries to visitors, delivery people or service people who enter your home.
If damage to your home leaves you unable to live there temporarily, home insurance pays for the cost of other accommodation, like hotel stays or renting a short-stay apartment. It pays for necessities like clothes or meals while you make plans to recover from a fire or flood.
Getting Condo Insurance
You’re covered two ways if you own a condo. Your monthly condominium fees pay a share of a master insurance policy for common areas like building exteriors, lobbies and parkades. But you’ll also need a condo insurance certificate for your own unit. Axess Law’s condo real estate lawyers make sure you have the coverage you need before you take possession.
Your personal fire insurance condo plan and general perils coverage compensates you for damages to your unit or storage locker and injuries to visitors or others present when an incident occurs. Damages to your home, belongings, improvements you or other owners made, units around you or common areas from a fire or water line break in your unit may be recoverable through your condo owner’s policy.
Just like any home insurance policy, your insurer will pay for alternate accommodation while your condo is repaired.
Who Pays Repairs If You Have a Mortgage
Insurers often name mortgage lenders as the “loss payee” when your home or unit is a total loss or needs substantial repairs. Your lender may be paid whatever is left owing on your mortgage or an amount the insurer deems sufficient to make repairs. Or you may have to dip into your total equity plan to refinance for home repairs, then produce receipts to get reimbursed by your insurance company.
When the unexpected occurs and a natural disaster or house fire robs you of your family home, Axess Law can explain your options. Ask us about remedies of the mortgagee when a mortgagor is in default due to catastrophic fire or flooding.
Government Disaster Assistance in Ontario
When bad weather or wildfires cause widespread damage, you may be eligible for DRAO (Disaster Recovery Assistance for Ontarians) assistance. DRAO helps communities with clean up, repair or replacement costs and emergency expenses like evacuating your home.
DRAO reimburses up to 90% of eligible expenses, appliances or furnishings for a principal residence. Temporary DRAO assistance is deducted from any home insurance payout you receive.
Your eligibility is limited to $250,000, with a $500 deductible, but only if you have less than $275,000 in home insurance coverage.
Who Pays Between Purchase and Possession
Sellers are liable for damages between the time you make an offer and 12 a.m. on the day you take possession. Buyers faced with rebuilding fire damaged homes can ask the seller to make repairs at their own expense. Or you can ask sellers to give you the proceeds from insurance policies so you arrange repairs yourself.
Significant damages could be grounds to walk away from an agreement of purchase and sale (private sale or brokered). Axess Law’s real estate lawyers can advise you on legal options if a seller refuses to pay for or make repairs. We refer you to our trusted legal partners if you decide to go to court.
Be Insurance Savvy
Saving money is important to you. Look for insurers who bundle other policies, like car insurance, with your homeowners’ policy. You could get discounts for being a senior, non-smoker, claims free or having a monitored security system.
Why You Need a Lawyer
Your Axess Law mortgage lawyer searches and registers property titles.We communicate with mortgage lenders and realtors to close your real estate sale and check you have a fire insurance certificate. Need a lawyer to refinance mortgages in Ontario? We’re pros at refinancing your mortgage when you find a can’t-be-beat rate.
You could pay more at a traditional law firm or you can pay just $999.99 and up to buy a residential lot in Ontario or $799.99 and up to sell at Axess Law. We offer the same great services for a lot less. Ask us about our real estate lawyer flat fee services.
We Make Online Bookings
Axess Law has a real estate lawyer (Toronto or Ottawa) who can video conference with you anywhere in Ontario, 7 days a week, at your convenience. Book online with our easy web form or call our 1-647-479-0118 lawyer line (toll free at 877-402-4207) for virtual appointments or in person meetings.
Our law offices are open on weekends, with onsite parking and easy bus access. Call us now.
