Your Homeowners Insurance and Diseased Tree Removal

When thinking about the coverage found in your Greensboro homeowners insurance policy, two words should be kept in mind – abrupt and unforeseen! While your policy is designed to cover a large number of perils that could possibly cause you serious financial loss, these perils, by nature, must be both sudden and unexpected in order to be covered.

If you have a diseased tree on your property, maintaining the safety of that tree falls within your homeowner's maintenance duties and it is not covered by your Greensboro homeowners insurance policy. Should that diseased tree suddenly fall down, your insurance company will likely see this as a preventable situation and deny a claim. If the tree comes down in a storm or is struck by lightning and falls over, it may be covered by your insurance, but only if it was a healthy tree to begin with. If it was a diseased tree, however, the claim will likely be denied because you should have known in advance that it was at risk of falling down due to its health status.

Negligence, Accident or Maintenance

When you have a tree growing on your property, your insurer assumes that it's your responsibility to keep it healthy or to have it removed. To them, this is proper and prudent maintenance and failure to do so would be negligent. If this tree falls down onto your lawn, your insurer will expect you to foot the bill for removal and cleanup.
If, however, a tree falls onto your house, your fence or your car as the result of a wind storm or a lightning strike, this should be covered by your Greensboro homeowners insurance policy even if the tree was diseased. It would be best to check your policy for specifics on this matter and discuss it with your agent if you're unclear about your coverage. Take note that trees damaged on your property as a result of flood or earthquake are typically not covered by your standard homeowners policy.

Coverage Limits

If you have a fallen tree that your insurer agrees to pay for in removal and cleanup costs, there will generally be a limit to the amount they'll pay. Although each insurer and homeowners policy may differ on this, a typical limit is 5% of your policy's dwelling coverage limit per claim. There may also be a per tree limit, such as $500 or $1000.