Is Landscaping Covered in my CT Homeowners Insurance Policy?
Saturday, September 24th, 2011What’s your favorite place in your garden? When the summer sun is at its brightest, it’s hard to beat a shady spot under a mature tree. If you planted a spindly sapling many years ago, and nurtured it as it grew into a mature tree with a spreading canopy, that shaded place will be even more precious to you. It’s disturbing to think about the risk of a hurricane uprooting your large, vigorous tree and destroying your carefully landscaped garden.
Coverage for the loss of landscaping plants is sometimes included in the personal belongings portion of a CT homeowners insurance policy. Typically the amount of cover is around 5% of the value of the homeowners’ policy, so if the home is insured for $100,000 there may be around $5,000 coverage for landscaping. There may be a per item limit which does not fully cover the cost of replacing expensive plants or mature trees. And you probably won’t be covered for every event that could result in the loss of your trees – damage done by strong wind isn’t likely to qualify, and of course, if your policy excludes hurricanes, then your trees wouldn’t be covered in that event either.