Why Does an Absentee Home Watch Service Need Insurance?
Home Watch Services are beneficial to keep a watchful eye on your home for absentee or seasonal homeowners. They are primarily for residential and second homeowners who spend extended periods of time away from home. They provide peace of mind to be sure that issues such as weather damage, broken pipes, vandalism, maintenance, broken windows, pests and more do not become larger problems while you are absent. In the event that you are away and they uncover a needed repair, they can notify you and take care of it for you. When problems occur a Home Watch Service will handle it!
However, BEFORE you hire an Absentee Home Watch Service be sure they are properly insured.
If you are an Absentee Home Watch Service, you need general liability insurance and professional liability insurance (Errors and Ommissions).
Professional Liability is in case you miss something that you should have seen as a Home Watch Professional.
General Liability protects you while inside the home from pre-existing conditions and general risks such as a toilet that backs up while you are in the home.
Here is a real life situation that just happened:
An absentee homeowner hired an Absentee Home Watch Service to watch her 2nd story condominium during her absence. The home watch service person was filing a bucket with water in the kitchen sink when she received a phone call. She took the phone call and forgot about the bucket of water. The next morning the homeowner’s association called the home watch person to say that the unit underneath was caving in and was being flooded by the water leak from the above unit.
The home watch person did NOT carry general liability insurance and is PERSONALLY responsible. Depending on the insurance company, the homeowner’s insurance may NOT cover the claim for the homeowner because the homeowner hired someone to take care of the property.
The first-floor unit will definitely NOT be covered by the damage done from the 2nd floor unit. If the insurance company for either unit does cover the claim they may go after the home watch business for reimbursement for BOTH units.
If you hire employees you will also need to add workers compensation insurance.
You may need to add commercial auto insurance to your Absentee Home Watch Service insurance if you or your employees drive for work-related purposes.
This article is for general informational purposes only and does not provide details of what you need to do to protect your assets.
For further information call:
Motz-Rusin Insurance Agency PALM DESERT office 760-564-3888 www.MotzRusin.com
78000 Fred Waring Dr. Suite 202, Palm Desert, CA 92211
License #0M26924
Motz-Rusin Insurance Agency WYOMING office 307-204-8400 https://motzrusininsurance.com/
1131 13th St. Suite 201, CODY, WY 82414
WY License #455134
