Will My Home Insurance Company Require an Inside Home Inspection to Start My Policy?

November 7, 2019

Generally no, however, there are exceptions

In New York State, home insurance companies don't usually order inspections of the interior of your home. If they do, the reason(s) will be unique to:

Your home’s location.
The age of your home and its electrical, heating, plumbing, and possibly roof updates.
The company and the specific program’s underwriting requirements.

Every company’s underwriting guidelines and practices are different.

The purpose of an interior audit is to identify and address the potential for losses. If there are hazards that can be minimized through updates or changes following an inspection, you as the homeowner would be notified in writing. Some items that an inspection might uncover are that electrical circuits need updating, or the heating system requires cleaning. Additionally trip and fall exposures would be noted.

An inspection of your home would also be used to calculate a replacement cost estimate to compare with an appropriate amount of insurance for your home.

To sum up, an interior inspection of your home would be performed for two reasons:

To find issues that increase the likelihood of loss, followed by recommendations you can use to eliminate the concerns.
To determine if an appropriate amount of insurance is in place for your home.

In some cases, there are no recommendations. In others, there may be significant requirements.

What’s best practice? Work with your insurance agent or representative prior to putting a policy in place. Discuss whether (or not) an inspection will be required, and what recommendations are likely to be made.

If you have additional questions about your New York State homeowners insurance please feel welcome to call us at 607-324-7500. Or, if you are not a current client, you can request a quote from our agency right online here: https://www.ryanagency.com/request-a-quote

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