This is a hypothetical scenario:
I own a house, and my name is the only one on the deed, the mortgage, and the home owners policy.
My boyfriend rents a spare bedroom from me in the house I own and we live in the house together. He pays me rent, and we keep our finances separate. He is not a named insured on my home owners policy. He doesn’t have a renters policy of his own.
We are not married nor engaged, so the only legal relationship we have is tenant/landlord.
Now, say, one day he is cooking something on the stove and he forgets about it. He leaves the house and while he is gone the food and then the house catch on fire.
Clearly, my possessions and the property damage to my house would be covered under my insurance. His personal property would not be covered since he is not insured.
However, would my insurance company then be able to sue him for the damages they paid to me, since he caused the accident? If so, would the personal liability coverage of a renter’s policy have protected him if he had one?
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Yes, he would be considered liable in that situation. Yes, if he had a renters policy, the liability would pay up to the policy limits. Be sure he gets at least $500,000 liability, it is cheap & usually only $5 to $10 more than $300,000 liability. Your insurance company could very well go after him for the damages to your home.
We had someone in our office rent from his parents (apt above the parent’s business). He accidentally caused a fire with a lot of damage (the business had to close for a while too) & the parent’s business policy went after & collected from the son’s renters policy liability for the damages. So, there is NO exclusion on a standard renters policy for damages the renter accidentally causes to the place they rent. If the damage is on purpose, that is a different story.
If it is an accident the insurance company will not ask to be paid back. Only if its fraud or something illegal would they ask to be paid back. I could be wrong, I am not positive. You should call and ask your agent.
You are smart with your finances being separate and your own separate homeowners insurance policy.
Yes, your insurance company could sue him. The personal liability of the renters policy, on the standard HO4 form, would NOT cover him, as there is a standard exclusion, for damage you cause to a premises you rent.
i agree with what the others said, however he should be able to get renter’s insurance to cover his possessions in case they are damaged.
Yes, and yes.
Sorry, mbrkatz, but I’ve never heard of that exclusion, which seems ridiculous to me. If a tenant is negligent and causes damage the owner can’t collect from the tenant’s renter’s policy?
Then again I am retired, AND I worked for a company that wrote their own policy form.
I would think that in a case like this there would be some pretty heavy investigation, as the possibility exists for there to be some shady happenings – not that you would, evilnumb…
Best bet is to call your agent, or the companies he’d get renters insurance from, and ask. Us answerers don’t seem to agree!