WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2020
When you buy a home, you’ll usually have a plot of land that you’ll receive with the house itself. You’ll often find it a fun and rewarding experience to landscape, plant and decorate your yard as you see fit. In many cases, your landscaping becomes an asset to your home and might even raise your property value.
Still, if something were to happen to your landscaping, that could equal a financial loss to you. You might wonder if your home insurance will cover these losses. While it can in some cases, it is not an all-encompassing benefit. Therefore, you’ll have to work with your home insurance agent to determine when your policy will cover landscaping, and what you might be able to do to increase your coverage to receive more benefits.
When Will Home Insurance Cover Landscaping?
Landscaping might be any of the foliage on your property, such as trees, flowers and bushes. Hardscaping, on the other hand, might be drainage ditches, retaining walls and certain other structures that are not part of the house itself.
Generally, homeowners insurance will cover landscaping and hardscaping features in a limited way. Still, all policies vary. Often, they will cover property damage resulting from:
Weather damage to landscaping is a special case. For example, while your plan might pay for the removal of a tree felled by a storm, it might not pay for you to plant the new tree.
Additionally, if you want to repair a structure, such as a fence, then you will have to make sure that your plan contains the appropriate coverage for it. Usually, structures that are not attached to your dwelling will have coverage under what insurers call detached structures insurance.
What’s important to remember is that homeowners insurance will not cover landscaping damage that results from normal wear and tear, nor will it cover damage done by termites, disease or other insect infestations. Also, some plans won’t pay for damage done dead trees that you neglected to remove when they fall during a storm.
How Can I File a Claim on My Policy?
When filing a home insurance claim for foliage damage, the best place to start is to call your insurer and ask them what your plan covers. The insurer will often send someone to your property to inspect the damage and determine whether your plan will cover some or all the damage in question. In other cases, they might simply ask you to send photos of the damage in question.
It’s always important to remember that your plan will include limits and restrictions on landscaping coverage. However, by working closely with your agent, you’ll be able to put appropriate coverage in place as soon as you buy your policy.
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