Richmond Rat Removal Tip: Will homeowners insurance pay for rat damage?

Homeowners insurance will most often not pay for damages that may be brought on by a rat infestation in your home. Rats are the worst kind of critters that could invade your home. This is because rats will chew into right about anything and make holes while at it. From furniture, to wire cables and shingles, eaves, ceiling boards, wooden pillars, insulation and whatever else you may have in the home; the list is endless.

Rat urine will also cause ugly stains on the ceiling board which may graduate into full blown holes that leak after a continued period of time. Rat poop may also cause stains and fungal infections if they are not removed as soon as they are dropped. Dead rats will pose health hazards that will lead to the spread of infections that may be fatal if left unchecked. In case you have rats in difficult to reach places such as the walls, they may just die in there and then you would need to remove them by probably opening up the wall. This you will have to do at your own cost because homeowners insurance will not pay for that.

Homeowners insurance may only pay for rat damages in very specific circumstances. If you happened to have bought the house when it already had rat damages and the insurer did not notice the issue, you will be compensated for the damage. This is because that error will squarely be on account of their failure to notice it.

In addition, homeowners insurance will pay for the damages to your property in case the rats come in and cause sudden damage that rats may cause. For instance, if rats came in and within a very short period of time managed to chew into the wiring cables exposing your home to an accidental fire, the homeowners insurance may just compensate you on your loss.

On the contrary, if you have a rat problem that may have lasted for a period of time and the rats for instance make their way into your roof and urinate in there long enough for the ceiling board to completely rot and fall apart then the cost of repairing the ceiling will fall back to you. This is simply because the damage may have been prevented if you, as the owner of the house, had taken precautionary measures to get rid of the rats beforehand.

Homeowners insurance will also pay damages caused by rats after another event opened the home to an infestation. For instance if the shingles of your house are blown off by the wind and some rats find their way into your house and cause some damages, the insurance will cover these damages.

While insurance language may not be friendly to everyone, getting legal assistance to help you understand the terms and conditions of your insurance provider will help you understand exactly where your liability begins and ends when damages are involved. Asking all the questions that relate to the issue beforehand will save you a lot of money down the line, and so will prevent rats from coming in.