What does the insurance company do?

[micky]

Follow-up on next door neighbor

> >The one with the sump pump that runs maybe every 15 minutes or >half-hour. > >We had one cold day and I warned him it would freeze; and now there is >ice the width of the sidewalk that goes from one house to the next, and >8 or 10 feet long, so that his other next door neighbor has to walk on >her yard too to leave home. I shoveled the 2" of snow a few days ago, >but he's made no effort afaict to get rid of the ice.

What does the home insurance company do if someone falls on the ice and makes a claim which the insurance has to pay, and they decide it was the homeowner's fault?

Do they pay the claim and cancel the insurance? Pay and raise the the rates? Some 3rd choice?

--Looked at the neigbor's sidewalk today and the icy patch is the width of the sidewalk (about 3') by 18 feet long. Plus the sidewalk going up to their front door is covered with ice more than half of the way. (the entire width for half of that half, and half width for the quarter closest to the house-to-house sidewalk. Because the 4"sump pump hose extends about 10 feet from the front wall of the house. )

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, If the sidewalk is on his land(lot). Even mail man can refuse to deliver mail...We have local bylaw, we have to clear snow and ice within

24 hours after snowfall. If not, city can fine you. Old folks get help from volunteers called snow angel.

[makolber]

It should work the other way round too, If the city fails to clear the roads witih 24 hours The ciity should be held accountable

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, I never see it happen, LOL! Same with lawn, if you don't maintain it, city crew can come and mow it and city will send a bill.

[trader_4]

Yes.

Maybe.

Pay and raise the the

Probably.

They could pay, raise rates and notify the owner that he needs to correct the problem or they will cancel. They could notify him that they are going to do an inspection of the property.

If I was a neighbor and the water impacted an portion of my property, sidewalk, etc, I'd send a letter to the property owner, telling them of the danger, putting them on notice. I'd do that assuming a friendly conversation had already been tried. At least that way if they pump a lot of water out, it freezes on my property, someone slips and sues me, my insurance company will have a better case.

[Moe DeLoughan]

You can have anything you want, as long as you're willing to help pay for it. We'll plow within 24 hours with as little as one inch on the ground. But what that means is: in my city, snow removal is the third-largest segment of the budget, after police and fire. We agreed to a tax increase and a staff reduction in police and fire to maintain our good snowplowing. Is it worth that to you?

[trader_4]

Same here, unless it's a once in 30 years kind of storm, the major roads are kept clear during the storm, most local streets are kept passable, almost all of it is taken care of within 24 hours. But then I pay $12K a year in property tax......

[Moe DeLoughan]

If I was a neighbor and the water ended up on a portion of my property, I'd contact the city to determine if it was violating any code or ordinance. If it did, that would be something share with the offending neighbor.

Actually, I had this situation arise when a neighbor had a sump pump installed and the company put the outflow drain right at the property line, so that the water drained directly onto my property. I notified the neighbor, told her the company should've known better, and that she just needed to have it moved several feet further away from my land. She went berserk and called the city herself, called the company to have it moved, and called me at work and demanded that I leave work IMMEDIATELY to approve the new location. We were the best of friends, so I was mystified at her over-reaction, but decided the best course of action was to apologize with flowers. That worked. She apologized back, and told me her parents had taken my side when she called them in tears to complain about what I'd done.

Water is trouble.

[micky]

Yes, we have that here too, 24 hours after the snow stops (which might leave quite a bit of time, but since I sleep late on those days, I'm glad there are 24 hours. I always hope to get out there before the mailman steps on the snow and makes ice out of it, but rarely do. This time, the ice was still mushy when I got out.

These people are not old. He's probably under 50 and so is his wife. And his daughters are old enough both to shovel snow and to break up the ice.

This wasn't part of a snowfall. It's ice from not adjusting the sump pump.

A city fine is not going to scare him.

But the threat of what an insurance company might do might, if the insurance company was going to do someothing he woudln't like.

Last Thursday, his other next door neighbor, a woman in her 60's, was out there chipping and shoveling the ice from the part of the sidewalk in front of her house. She was outside at least an hour, and only did an area about 3' x 3'. . The ice was an inch thick. You'd think he'd be out there the next day doing more of what she didn't do.