If you have recently sustained severe damage to your residential property, we at The LePley Law Firm know that you may feel paralyzed, overwhelmed by the circumstance and unsure of what to do next. However, in order to have any hope of receiving compensation from your homeowners’ insurance, you need to act quickly. Contacting your insurer and filing a claim should be one of the first tasks on your list of things to do following damage to or destruction of your home. This is because there are limitations on the time you have to do so after the event occurs.
Ironically, after all the effort you make to file a claim in a timely manner, your insurer may try to put you off by delaying payment of the claim. This is one of several ways that insurance companies may attempt to avoid compensating you. Other tactics include paying an inadequate amount on your claim, i.e., less than the cost of repair or replacement, or by unreasonably denying the claim.
The latter case can feel as though your insurer is adding insult to injury. Often, a denied claim may result from a question about one aspect of a claim or an accusation that you are responsible for the damage, either through neglect or willful action.
Since you are the one paying the premium for your homeowners’ insurance, you should reap the benefit from it after a damaging event. It is wrong for an insurer to avoid paying you what you deserve to protect its own profits. Quick action in the wake of the damage and the denied claim may help you preserve your rights. More information about homeowners’ insurance claims is available on our website.