insurance

My insurance called me yesterday and informed me that they would be cancelling my insurance because I have rented my house to a group of students. They gave me two weeks to find new insurance before they cut me off. I'm having trouble finding someone who will insure us. If they cut my insurance, my bank will cancel my mortgage, and I guess that means I'd lose the house. Is this insurance company allowed to drop me in this manner. When we got the insurance two months ago there was nobody living in the house, but it was rental insurance. We never lied or anything, we were completely honest through the whole process.

most insurance policies range from 30 to 90 days on a cancellation for non payment.

You need to stop and read your policy carefully. If this is a home owners policy there is likely an exclusion for using the house as a business.

When you bought the insurance you were probably purchased it through an agent. He didnt care what you told him. all he wanted to do was sale the policy. It's the underwriter that now wants to cancel it.

Bottom line. I think that you have two options.

1. Purchase a commercial property insurance policy. (expensive but doable.)

2. Search around and find another homeowners insurance policy and buy 1M dollars worth of umbrella coverage.

I'd spend my time looking for option two. The minute you ask about an umbrella, agents will be knocking your door down.

I am an underwriter, and we have to send legal notice which is 30-60 days to replace coverage. Your lender will not cancel your mortgage, they will force place insurance on you which the rates are alot higher. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/accuse_write?qid=20060926164243AA5hWco&kid=RsMrXDW6AjjofDT72HbR2XAo_nV.w.C0iO7XqFtASvSJ2htIxsRP&s=comm&date=2009-01-15+16%3A09%3A07&.crumb=

Every company has a diferent policy. Look inside your insurance contract to see the exact period.

they can cancel it immediately

It depends what type of policy you got in the beginning..did you have a vacant renters policy? or a DP-3 policy? did you tell them no one was living in the home? normally it is 30 days notice. Your mortgage company can put "force place coverage insurance" on your home before you lose it if you cannot find another company. If any of the underwriting reasons have changed they can cancel the policy. I just had a policy cancel that I was working on because they failed to let us know they owned a German Shephard. Insurance companies have stupid reasons, but they have their own reasoning behind it. I would still say you have a 30 day notice though. Call your current agent and see if there is another policy that can be written.

I live in FL, not sure if all this applies to you.

Yes, the insurance company can cancel your policy by the underwriting reason. Homeowners policy is for owner living dwelling coverage. Usually the insurance company gives 30 days notice for any cancellation

Since the house is now occupied by the tenant, you have to get the Dwelling & Fire insurance instead of Homeowner Policy.

If you still need your dwelling & fire w/ liability or not, check the following site:

http://www.insureme.com/landing.aspx?Refby=614136&Type=home

Once you submit your info, several agents from your local area will contact you with their best quotes for your attention.

If you don't have a dwelling & fire insurance for your house, the mortgage company will force their policy. I've seen that the forced premium was five times higher than a normal dwelling premium you may find thru the local agent.

Good Luck!

Yes, it was probably in the fine print. You can find insurance, it will just be more expensive. Later you can find another insurer that is cheaper.

I would check your policy to see if your insurance company should be void or not.

Off hand, however, I see no problem. You can, however, expect to pay a premium on your insurance policy to the norm because it can be interpreted as being rented for commercial use.

The amount of time that you get is going to depend on the state you are in. Every state has a different rule about this. In most states, if there is a material change in risk they can cancel. Since this was written on a homeowners policy, you need to contact the agent and ask them to rewrite it to a dwelling fire policy. A homeowners policy is for an owner occupied house and a dwelling fire policy is for a tenant occupied house. The coverage under a dwelling fire is not as good as a homeowners policy. Your agent should be able to help you with all of this.

most insurance companies give 30 day notices of cancellation and they are required to give legal, written notice where do you live now? your agent that writes your homeowner policy should be able to write you a dwelling fire policy without problem

That varies, depending on what state you are in. Yes, renting your home out means it's not an "owner occupied" dwelling any more, so isn't eligible for a homeowners policy. Yes, renting to a group of students is the absolutely highest risk group you can rent to, MOST insurance companies won't insure you. You're going to have to go to a high risk carrier - maybe Lloyds of London. It's going to be a WAY LOT more than it is right now. Your current agent should put this out on the market, and get a couple quotes for you.

Anyway, the insurance company has to issue a cancellation notice to you, for material change of risk. They might say a different reason, but they DO have to give a reason. I've never seen a notice time of less than 30 days, but it might be out there. I'd imagine there's no way it can be less than 10, but could be as long as six months.

They can also cancel with 10 days notice, because you insured it as a rental, but at the time it was vacant. Check the application - I'm sure one of the questions on it was about occupancy!!