Homeowner’s Name: Nancy
Neighbor’s Name: John
Who's Home Insurance Pays for damages?
We all know the weather in Georgia can change every 30 minutes! We can wake up to a sunny day, and within a couple of hours it could potentially turn into a windy, stormy day. We live in Douglasville and our home has at least 9 trees that give us the heebie-jeebies during every storm.
When winds pick up in Georgia, it can be dangerous. Trees are swinging left and right, branches are falling landing on cars and blocking roads. So, if a tree that is on your property falls and causes damage to your neighbor’s property WHO PAYS FOR THE DAMAGES? To make matters worse the tree fell on that not so friendly neighbor’s home! Why could not it have fallen on the friendly neighbor’s property!! Things may get awkward but hopefully this article can help guide yall in the situation.
It does not matter if your home is insured with Travelers, Nationwide or SafeCo the answer to this question is pretty straight forward.
The cost of repairs will fall on the Homeowner that owns the home that suffered the damage. So if Nancy’s tree fell on John’s home, then John is responsible for the fixing his own home, it does not matter if it was Nancy’s tree. Simple because Nancy does not control the weather in Douglasville, she did not force the wind to knock the healthy tree over.
BUT! There is always a BUT. If Nancy’s tree is showing signs of rotting and that rotted tree is the tree that fell on John’s home that will be carelessness (negligence) on Nancy as a homeowner’s duties. In other words if Nancy is liable (legally responsible) for damages to a the neighbor’s home she will be on the hook for the payment of repairs. Her Georgia Homeowners Policy will step in and pay for those damages because Nancy should have proactively taken down the rotted tree.
That’s IF THE tree was rotted, if the tree was healthy when the wind knocked it down then John’s Georgia Home Insurance policy would fix the damages after his deductible. Allow us to help you understand your Car and Home Insurance policies, it does not matter if you live in Lithia Springs, Sandy Springs or Columbus. We work with customers all over Georgia.