Alan2005

And they lose everything. Its then reported on the news and, inevitably, they don't have insurance. Why don't people have insurance for their houses here? Don't they realise they are made of wood which burns quite nicely.

It just makes no sense; don't mortgage providers insist on it?

bats

Work colleague who is building a house in a BC forest somewhere says they cannot get fire insurance.

Alan2005

The people on the news the other day didn't have that excuse. They lived in a normal subdivision with city water and fire hydrants.

bats

Well then they are daft buggers. No doubt there will be a collection for them

scrubbedexpat091

Maybe they simply can't afford insurance? I rent, but at the moment renters insurance is out of the question financially.

mandymoochops

People always think it won't happen to them. Also they should remember that some insurance companies don't automatically reevaluate a value increase in their property, or to increase their insurance following home improvements.

Alan2005

Yeah, I get that. If you don't have much equity or are renting your losses aren't too bad if the house burns down. But if all your wealth is tied up in your house then insuring it is kind of essential.

The poor woman this happened to the other day was a single mum with 2 kids. I actually felt sorry for her, but why are there so many cases like this? Why don't mortgage providers insist on it? And if you own your house outright you don't count as poor really - not in BC.

Geordie Lass

When you say renters insurance do you mean the same as tenant insurance?

Our Landlord wouldn't let us move in without it... It's in with our car insurance so it's part of $120 a month so it's not that expensive.

If you want the name of my broker I can PM you?

jericho

We rented too, and ours was around $15 a month.

BristolUK

Maybe it is a condition of the mortgage being given but then it's not renewed as a money "saver" by the buyer.

In a similar issue, I often hear an ad on the radio that says remortgaging might invalidate insurance. If that's the case the lender might want to confirm the insurance really is valid.

HGerchikov

You probably do after it has burned down if you don't have insurance.

bats

Incidental info on renter's insurance. The dog that I ran over was running loose on the road. It's owners were held responsible for any damage and it was claimed from their renter's insurance.

Auld Yin

Mortgagees insist on insurance at outset with loss payable to the lender. There is really nothing they can do if the coverage lapses. Banks and possibly other lenders carry insurance to deal with such situations but would probably only claim if the loss exceeded the land value, which in many markets exceeds the building value.

scrubbedexpat091

I am on assistance right now, and I own pretty much nothing. All my items probably add up to 500 if even that.

mikelincs

Certainly they do in the UK, you have to have insurance to cover the cost of a rebuild, BUT you don't have to take out insurance via the lender, so I suppose it's possible to take it our the first year, then just let it lapse. There are many thousands of people in the UK without contents insurance, which might be what you are talking about, and there are more and more houses where you can't get insurance against flood damage due to the increase in floodings.