Tenant burned down house

[Marina Loos]

3 years ago I purchased a nice home to rent out. The house has no mortgage on it. In March my tenant burned down my house due to "careless disposal of a cigarette" per the fire report. The lease specifically states that this is a non-smoking house and that "tenant understands that damage caused by smoking any substance will be their responsibility." The tenant has admitted responsibility and has good renters insurance that was required by my property managers. The fire occurred in the middle of the night on a Saturday and coincidentally, later that day when the home was very exposed, we had 2 days of severe non-stop rain that came into the house before we were even informed of the fire on Monday. Nobody in the house was hurt.

Long story (not so) short - after a horrible experience with the initial adjuster and taking waaaaay too long (4 months) to get anything done, I finally got a new adjuster and quickly received a full payout through my insurance within a few weeks. My insurance was actually close to expiring and was renewed with no issues. The adjuster and my contractor was pretty much on par with how much it would cost to rebuild (the house was taken down to the studs) which is 20k less than what my full insurance paid out.

Now I'm seeing movement on getting the house back together. The plumbing and electrical is in place and the cabinets are being chosen. Everything is now moved to subrogation. This is my first fire and my first experience with dealing with something so major. Other than our first inspector disappearing (!) and the initial insurance adjuster being lax in any form of communication - things have gone in my favor. However I am worried that I will have to pay out of pocket for the 20k. I'm only 1 week into subrogation. Is there anything I should know, look for, etc that could cause them to rule against me and not pay me out the remaining about that I need? As stated above, the 20K is above what my insurance coverage was for and since my renter has coverage, wouldn't their insurance have to pay the remaining amount my insurance states is needed? -- I'm trying to stay positive that all of this will work out. Thank you.

[Greg Scott]

If done correctly an insurance claim usually covers MORE than the cost of putting things back together.  Often your contractor can afford to give you upgrades the house didn't have before because insurance payouts, by law, are lucrative.  But, if you don't handle the claim just right, the insurance companies can and will find a way to pay you less.

Did you hire a public adjuster to fight with the adjuster you insurance company assigned to you?   I would talk with one ASAP.