A Tampa woman lost her home in a fire \u2014 and then received a municipal notice giving her 21 days to demolish it. If she didn\u2019t comply, the city would do it on her behalf and send her the bill. The problem? Her insurer\u2019s investigation takes about 60 days to complete.<\/p>\n
The fire, which started in the garage and spread throughout the house, left no room untouched.<\/p>\n
Jamie Cohn told WFLA\u2019s Better Call Behnken that she wants to preserve the frame of the house and rebuild, but even an extension from the city doesn\u2019t leave enough time for her insurance company to complete its investigation (1).<\/p>\n
\u201cThe evidence of the fire would be not there,\u201d she told Better Call Behnken. She\u2019s worried this would impact the ability of her insurer to complete its claim investigation, and potentially jeopardize her payout.<\/p>\n
This is a trap that most homeowners don\u2019t know exists until they\u2019re in it.<\/p>\n
Each state has different rules. Under Florida law, for example, insurers have 14 days to acknowledge receipt of a claim. From there, they have 90 days from the date the claim is filed to complete their investigation and either approve or deny the claim. Claims typically take from 60 to 90 days (2).<\/p>\n
On the other hand, a municipality can demand that a homeowner tear down a fire-damaged house if it\u2019s considered a public safety hazard. This typically involves issuing a formal notice to the homeowner with a deadline for demolition \u2014 and that deadline can be tight, depending on the state of the property and the risk to public safety.<\/p>\n
Municipal code demolition timelines are governed by local municipal building codes, which can vary across the country. But municipal code enforcement operates independently of insurance claim timelines.<\/p>\n
Despite this, if you don\u2019t comply with the municipal order, then the municipality can go ahead and demolish your property, bill you for it and, if you can\u2019t pay, place a lien on the property to recover costs (3). Placing a lien on the property could complicate insurance payouts, limiting your control over the funds.<\/p>\n
Plus, if the home is demolished before the insurer completes its investigation, you may lose the ability to document cause, scope and value of damage, potentially jeopardizing or reducing your payout.<\/p>\n
Story Continues <\/p>\n
Read More: 5 essential money moves to make once you\u2019ve saved $50,000<\/a><\/p>\n Firstly, review your insurance policy to understand any timelines that may apply to specific claims. A comprehensive inventory of your belongings, including estimated value, is also a good way to be ready in the event of an emergency.<\/p>\n As a precaution, talk to your insurer about adding ordinance or law coverage to your property insurance, which will pay for the increased costs of rebuilding to meet current building codes. Many homebuilders only discover they\u2019re not fully covered until after an incident occurs, and then it\u2019s too late to top up your insurance.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re in a similar situation to Cohn, keep in mind that the municipality and your insurer aren\u2019t necessarily operating on the same timeline. And they\u2019re not necessarily going to communicate with each other to manage the situation.<\/p>\n Since this process can be overwhelming, it may be worth hiring a lawyer \u2014 as early in the process as possible, before you report the claim to your insurer \u2014 who can advocate for you. For example, they can make sure all damage is documented property and negotiate on your behalf to secure the maximum payout.<\/p>\n It\u2019s important to file your claim as soon as possible (since insurers need time to respond). Submit evidence, including time-stamped photos and videos of the damage, as well as a list of items that have been damaged. You can also obtain a copy of the fire damage report from the fire department.<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve received a notice of demolition from the municipality and want to request an extension, submit a formal request to the local code enforcement board, explaining the cause of the delay and a timeline for completion.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Tampa told Better Call Behnken that they\u2019re committed to working with Cohn. In the meantime, Cohn\u2019s insurance company, Slide Insurance, has completed its investigation, determining the home to be a total loss (1).<\/p>\n Join 250,000+ readers and get Moneywise\u2019s best stories and exclusive interviews first \u2014 clear insights curated and delivered weekly. Subscribe now.<\/a><\/p>\n We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our editorial ethics and guidelines<\/a>.<\/p>\n WFLA (1<\/a>); Gonzalez & Cartwright, P.A. (2<\/a>); West Virginia University (3<\/a>)<\/p>\n This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Tampa woman lost her home in a fire \u2014 and then received a municipal notice giving her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":209497,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[96024,96021,8370,96022,28,30,29,18376,667,96020,96023],"class_list":{"0":"post-210319","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-better-call-behnken","9":"tag-claim-investigation","10":"tag-dave-ramsey","11":"tag-fire-damage","12":"tag-florida","13":"tag-florida-headlines","14":"tag-florida-news","15":"tag-insurer","16":"tag-investigation","17":"tag-jamie-cohn","18":"tag-municipal-building"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}