Homeowners Liability: Protecting Your Most Valuable Asset

Homeowners liability insurance covers any accidents that occur on your property, whether you’re there or not. Since this policy protects your most valuable asset, it’s important to understand all of the coverages and exclusions that come along with it before purchasing a policy from your insurance company. To help you out, here are some explanations to help you make an informed decision on what kind of protection your home needs.

What Is a Homeowner’s Policy

A homeowner’s policy is a comprehensive insurance policy for your home.

A homeowner’s policy is a comprehensive insurance policy for your home. It includes liability coverage for any accidents that happen in or around the house, as well as loss of use coverage if you are unable to live in your home because of an incident covered by the policy. Other benefits may include loss assessment coverage and additional living expense coverage while damage is being repaired. Liability insurance is one of the most important components of homeowners insurance because it can help protect your assets and yourself in a worst-case scenario. 

  1. Liability coverage provides protection for bodily injury or property damage caused by you, your family members, or anyone on the premises with your permission. This includes injuries to someone who visits your home, such as a babysitter, delivery person, or contractor. If they are injured while they are in your house or on your property, liability coverage may provide compensation if they sue you.
  2. Liability coverage can also cover legal expenses if you are sued. If this happens, liability coverage will pay for attorneys’ fees and court costs so that you don’t have to use up other resources.
  3. In some cases, liability insurance can help cover an out-of-pocket settlement that could be costly otherwise.

How Much Coverage Do I Need

The first step in determining your coverage needs is to calculate the replacement value of your home. In general, you should purchase liability insurance for a sum equal to or greater than the amount required by the mortgage company. For example, if your mortgage company requires $250,000 in property damage liability coverage and you have a $350,000 home equity line of credit (HELOC) against your property, then you would need at least $500,000 in liability protection.

Liability Policies for Homeowners

It’s important to protect your home against natural disasters and other incidents. But it’s equally important to protect you, the homeowner, against future liability for events that occur on your property. Homeowners liability helps cover you when something happens at your home. If someone slips and falls, they could sue and seek compensation. They could argue that bad lighting or dangerous conditions inside the home contributed to their injury. This type of coverage helps protect you and your family from outsized bills if someone happens to be injured while in your home.

Make sure you’re protected from liability claims if someone gets injured on your property.

Popular plans

There are a variety of coverage levels when it comes to homeowners liability. You can access policies that protect you against claims for property damage. You could get protection against claims for injury to others. Your policy can protect you against having to pay out medical fees for the care of someone who was injured on your property. Most importantly, you should ensure that your policy covers liability defense costs. If you need to hire a lawyer to go to court and defend you, the insurance company could cover that cost if you have homeowners liability protection.

Understanding coverages

For a comprehensive home protection plan, you should also look into flood and fire insurance. This type of property insurance can protect you from acts of God as well as human acts of violence. It will cover the cost to repair your home if something happens. There is also home-sharing coverage and scheduled personal property insurance. It’s okay if you don’t know which policies are right for you. What’s most important is that you speak with someone who can help you make sure you’re covered in the right ways.

If you’re ready to explore homeowners liability insurance, we’d love to help. Get in touch and we’ll figure out a plan that works for you and your family.