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Ordinance of Law Coverage

Why do most customers have a general idea of what their Home insurance covers? Most don’t understand covered perils and how the claim is handled. I don’t understand many things under the hood of my car that the mechanic does. Ordinance and law coverage is one of them.

One of our clients in Winter Haven, Florida, had a kitchen fire recently. They deemed the house was over 40% damaged because it was not built to code. The county requires it to be removed and rebuilt from the ground up. The undamaged portion of the structure has to be torn down and rebuilt due to a change in municipal codes. This is where the ordinance of law coverage comes into play.

Typically your policy comes with a percentage. A lot of times, it is 10% of the structure value, in some cases, you can increase the percentage for a fee.

Ordinance of law coverage is designed to pay for:

• Cost of demolishing and removing the debris of undamaged portions of the structure that must be torn down or modified.
• The increased cost of reconstruction that is, the added cost to repair or rebuild under the current code. This may include upgraded electrical system sprinkler systems redesigned to meet hurricane-resistant standards.
• Loss of Value of the undamaged portion of a building when it must be torn down to meet code requirements.

I would suggest becoming familiar with local and state zoning laws. You can contact the zoning board and ask the questions such as:

• Since the building has been constructed, could any code changes affect my property?
• Does the existing code prohibit rebuilding, location, or size, and what percentage has to be damaged to rebuild?

At Lock Insurance, we always recommend this coverage and stress on older homes. Contact us today so we can review your current policy to make sure you have the correct information so you can make a wise decision once the claim happens. It’s too late to review your policy and implement the changes.