Alafaya Property Insurance Lawyer
Every summer, Florida residents brace themselves for hurricane season. Unfortunately, a certain degree of property damage is inevitable when these natural disasters strike. In an effort to account for these risks, many home and business owners purchase property insurance, which provides coverage for damage resulting from certain perils, including hurricanes, storms, and fires. Many of these policies also provide coverage for damage caused by vandalism or theft, or include personal liability and medical payment provisions, which protect policyholders from lawsuits regarding accidents, not including car crashes. Slip and fall accidents, for instance, often trigger this type of coverage.
Although they exist ostensibly to protect policyholders during particularly difficult periods of time, the reality is that many property insurance policies don’t actually provide the coverage that policyholders imagine. Many policies, for instance, contain numerous exclusions and deductibles, which can make it difficult for policyholders to actually obtain coverage when they need it the most. Fortunately, insurers can be held responsible for engaging in bad faith practices, so if you have a property insurance policy and need help filing a claim, or recently received a denial of a request for compensation, you should speak with an experienced Alafaya property insurance lawyer for help.
Policyholder Rights
Florida law provides property insurance policyholders with certain rights. For instance, insurers are required to acknowledge a policyholder’s claim within 14 days of receipt. Similarly, insurers must provide policyholders with a decision on their claim, or at least a notice of an ongoing investigation within 30 days of the claim’s submission. Furthermore, policyholders are guaranteed full settlement and payment for a claim, payment for the undisputed portion of the request, or an official denial within 90 days of the claim’s submission.
Filing a Claim for Property Damage
In some cases, there isn’t anything that a policyholder can do to expedite a claim’s resolution. There are steps that claimants can take, however, to help protect their rights throughout the process, while also ensuring that they have done everything possible to make the claim filing process go as smoothly as possible, including:
- Filing a report with the police if damage was the result of a crime;
- Carefully filling out any claim forms provided by the insurer;
- Making and documenting any emergency repairs necessary to prevent further damage, keeping all related receipts and invoices and taking photographs of the property damage in question;
- Creating a list of damaged property and refraining from disposing of the damaged property itself;
- Contacting their insurer before entering into a contract for repairs;
- Preparing for a visit from the insurance adjuster by collecting receipts, photos, and a home inventory; and
- Obtaining repair or rebuild estimates from local contractors.
If you need help filing a claim or have already done so and recently received notice of a denial, please call our office to learn more about your rights under Florida law.
Call Today to Schedule a Free Consultation
To learn more about filing a claim with your property insurance provider, please call the experienced Alafaya property insurance lawyers at Israoui Law today. We can be reached 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 407-381-4529.
