Ordinance or law coverage is an important, but optional, coverage for your home.
Imagine your home experiences a covered loss such as a fire. You will need to repair or replace some or all of your home. Now, if your home was older, it may not have been built to the newest building codes in your community. But when you go to do the work, you will have to build to current codes. This can be an additional expense, as your homeowners policy typically aims to restore your home to what you had before the covered loss. As a result, these “upgrades” are often not covered as part of your standard policy.
Ordinance or law coverage covers that extra cost incurred because you have to add features to make your home comply with the most current building standards. This applies when repairing or rebuilding a home because of a covered loss. It includes the cost to upgrade a home so it meets the most up-to-date building codes after a covered loss. Without this coverage, you may have to pay out of pocket to bring your home up to code while repairing a covered loss.
Some examples of things that may be impacted by changes in the building code include:
- plumbing
- wiring
- fire safety updates
- means of egress
- and more
So if you own an older home or live in an area where bundling codes change frequently, it may be worth adding this coverage. It is often not a significant additional expense. Not sure if you need this on your home? Ask your agent, or reach out to us any time, and we are happy to help.
If you have any further questions about this, or would generally like to learn more, feel free to reach out to us at keslarinsurance.com, or by phone at (603) 273-0953. We are always happy to be a resource when we can!
