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Community Insurance | Does Your Community Need Landscaping Coverage?

This post discusses community insurance for your HOA's landscaping and how it works.
Katie Vaughan | Mar 28, 2024 | 2 min read
Community Insurance | Does Your Community Need Landscaping Coverage?

Many community associations have beautiful landscaping valued at hundreds and perhaps thousands of dollars. As with any valuable asset, the question of how to insure it often arises.

Unlike other property a community owns, coverage for landscaping is limited under most property coverage forms. Policies can have restrictions on the covered causes of loss and the total limit available in the event of a loss. Many policies have both. This is the case whether the community has property coverage included as part of a package policy or if there is a ‘stand-alone’ property policy.

The Covered Causes of Loss for trees, shrubs, and plants under the most commonly used property coverage form are:


• Fire
• Lightning
• Explosion
• Riot or Civil Commotion; or
• Aircraft.

Additionally, the insurance is limited to not more than $250.00 for any one tree, shrub or plant with a maximum of $1,000.00 for the claim.

Another fairly commonly used property coverage form provides coverage for all types of direct loss to outdoor trees, shrubs, plants and lawns – which is much better. However, the coverage is limited to $3,000 any one occurrence including the debris removal expense.

Some insurance companies provide an ‘Extension of Coverage Endorsement’ that increases the amount of insurance available for landscaping claims which are good, but the coverage is still limited.

The two most common landscaping claims we see are damage from a car and wind. Note that under the first coverage form discussed above, neither one of these types of losses would be covered.

If your landscaping is destroyed by a vehicle, please report the accident to the police. If the officer can get the driver’s insurance information, then the community can and should pursue an insurance claim against the driver. This is true even if there’s coverage for the accident under the community’s insurance.

Many underwriters use their coverage forms. So how much insurance is provided for your outdoor landscaping will vary among carriers. Please read your policy and review the coverages with your insurance agent.

If you have any questions, the team at CiraConnect Insurance Services is available to help! 

 CiraConnect Insurance Services Quote

 

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