Los Angeles County continues to grapple with devastating wildfires that have claimed five lives, destroyed over 2,000 structures and forced the evacuation of at least 130,000 residents.

We are now appealing a denied claim with the insurance company.

I'm an independent agent here in AR and I write a lot of rental property, with ~6 preferred markets and if the properties have some issues, age, claim history etc.

On this one I had to but the bullet because they had converted a bedroom to a bathroom at some point and I really wanted to restore that bedroom so invoked claim the higher rent.  

But they claim that those people were not actors.

I don't remember the precise words, but essentially he claimed that there was some sort of standard rental agreement applicable to the area and he could not (perhaps in reality would not) add anything to it at all, which struck me as oddly questionable.

@Patrick Roberts wrote:"@Jay Hinrichs I know of one person who is buying high LTV preforeclosures Subto while they’re off market by paying the owners around $10k-$15k to walk away, quit claiming them into an entity, then seller-financing the entity holding title to the property to owner-occupants under the pretense that it's for commercial purposes on interest-only balloons at inflated values."

Claims" are an insurance matter.

This protects against potential claims and liabilities specific to the rental.For tax purposes, maintain clear records of rental-related income and expenses, allowing deductions for insurance, utilities, maintenance, and depreciation proportionate to the rental unit.

Stay curious, keep learning, and celebrate small victories.