Landlord Insurance Loss-of-use Question

[Sean Yang]

Hi All, 

We had a water damage (kitchen faucet leak) in my rental and opened a claim under my landlord policy. Tenants also opened a claim with their renter's policy. Tenants are currently staying in a hotel while the repair work is being done (hotel cost is paid by their renter's policy). The kitchen has been demolished but the rest of the house is fine. Tenants haven't paid me rent since the accident. Water leak happened on Dec-01, but the repair work didn't start until Jan-04, which was also the date that kitchen was demolished and tenants were displaced into a hotel. 

I was asking the adjuster for the loss-of-use (rent), but he denied it. He said as tenants were already covered for their living expenses by their renter's policy, they should pay me rent and therefore I don't get the loss-of-use from my side. However, I was told by the restoration company that usually in cases like this, I should waive the rent for the duration of the repair because tenants were not staying in the unit. Has anybody here had similar issues? and should I fight for loss-of-use(rent) with my adjuster? He did pay for the water mitigation and kitchen rebuilt by the way, but just not the loss-of-use portion. 

Thanks a ton!!

[John Mocker]

Sean,

Does your lease prevent you from charging the Tenants if the house can not be occupied after a set period of time?  If so, you would be suffering a loss of rents.   Send the lease to the adjuster and see if that solves the issue.  

You need to get your agent involved in this loss.  Even though they can not adjust the loss they can help to make sure you are getting the info you need to get this settled correctly.