The state of Pennsylvania and your local townships have some surprises for you if you need to rebuild your home if it were totally destroyed.
Starting January 1, 2011 any home in Pennsylvania that needs to be rebuilt are required to have a sprinkler system. Home builders are not happy with this new requirement and are fighting the new law. (See http://tiny.cc/z5haf). That could mean an additional cost of $13,000.
Many townships have other requirements. Most homes that are damaged beyond 50% must be torn down and rebuilt. Who pays for the cost to knock down and remove the good part? Other requirements include hard wired smoke detectors, two means of egress in a finished basement, fire rated doors between home and garage, GFI outlets on dedicated circuit and the use of fluorescent bulbs for all closet light fixtures.
Who pays for all this? Good question. Make sure you know the answer!
Most homeowner’s policy pay for the replacement of damaged structures with like materials. This means if you need to tear down part of your home that was not damaged, add or upgrade items that were not in your home previously there would be no coverage.
Fortunately, most insurance companies provide some coverage for this loss. The insurance companies call this coverage “ordinance or law coverage.” Most policies include an additional 10% of your “Coverage A” (building) coverage to cover this loss. That means if your home was insured for replacement of $250,000 you would have $25,000 of “Ordinance or law coverage.”
However, this is not extra coverage and is included in your replacement amount. It also may not be enough coverage.
Contact us today at 215-885-2200 to see how you can protect yourself in this situation.
Your Protection and Peace of Mind is our only Business!
