roundrulers

if you rent a vacation house and hurricane damages, who pay? You or the landlord? I assume there is no travel insurance that covers something like this?

I was asking my co-worker's wife for advice. She works for a local residential property management company with several hundred rental apartments and houses(all owned by the management company). She said their standard rental contract stipulates that the renter is responsible for damages, including from winds/floods/hurricanes/fires/etc. They had one apartment that was damaged by a fallen tree during a storm. They succesfully sued the tenant and recovered the repair cost(around $15000) in court. The judge ruled that according to local laws and the contract, the tenant is responsible, even when the damage was caused by nature.

However, I don't know if the same laws apply when you travel to another state and rent a vacation house?

dchristiva

If you, the tenant, don't cause damage, you don't pay. Property insurance should cover any hurricane-related damage, aside from flood damage, which would be covered by flood insurance instead.

Edited to add, if you sign a lease that says you, the tenant, will pay for hurricane-related damage (or any other damage, for that matter), then, yes, you're on the hook. Don't know why a prospective tenant would ever sign such a lease though.

TMOliver

Any vacationing renter so unaware or stupid enough to sign a rental contract with a clause of that significance ought to have to buy a round for the bar.

wallypiper

This depends entirely on what the lease says. If it says the tenant is responsible for anything that happens while they occupy the home and they sign it, then that's the way it is. Most people don't read the lease, especially when they're just renting a house for a vacation stay, but I expect that in many locations even a week long stay is treated, legally, as a lease, the same as if you were leasing the house for a year or more.

Each state and in some cases localities have their own laws governing tenant and landlord rights and responsibilities. If the laws don't specifically restrict or assign responsibility, then the lease can say anything you want it to and it is a binding contract. I wouldn't be surprised to find that laws in locations that have a lot of short term vacation rental properties favor the owner/landord since they pay the taxes and the short term non resident tenants generally wouldn't have any input into the local laws.

roundrulers

that's why I'm planning to just cancel.... besides, all we had was a verbal
contract over the phone.... (unless verbal contract is binding in that state)

untamed

That's for sharing this info. I think most people take it for granted that we only be responsible for damages we made.

SuperDudley

Generally speaking, any damage done to the home by the tenants should be their responsibility, anything beyond the normal wear and tear. As far as damage to the home due to catastrophic losses, that is up to the owner of the property to insure the home, not the tenant. One of the basic principles of insurance requires that you have to have insurable interest in whatever is being insured. An owner would have insurable interest as they would sustain a financial loss if something happened to the property, the tenant would not. I seriously doubt anywhere in the U.S. would enforce a rule that makes a tenant pay for a loss that is not a result of the negligent actions.

BearX220

But it sounds like that's exactly what happened to the tenant in the OP's example. And a contract can be worded to transfer all liability to a temporary lessee, regardless of ownership. If you're in a Hertz car and it gets hit, Hertz will come after you regardless of whether the accident is your fault.

Hell, if I rent a chainsaw from the local rent-all store and hit a knot with it, the liability is mine -- unless I bought the $3.00 insurance cover.

I'd never sign a contract for a rental property on this basis, though, without figuring out my insurance position. You'd have to be crazy.

Often1

Who in their right-mind would sell a hurricane rider on the eve of a hurricane?

BearX220

Who in their right mind would rent a vacation house in the path of a hurricane?

tentseller

Have owner forward copy of lease to you to check well before your arrival.
Read it carefully, including all the fine prints.

fastflyer

I wouldn't ever sign a contract with such unreasonable and peculiar terms. Why would a tenant shoulder such a responsibility? If that is the only way to get the lease, then at a minimum, the tenant should create an entity with zero assets to sign the contract.

Friends once rented a beach house for a week, which on day two completely flooded because of a broken pipe. We were of course not responsible, and in fact got our rent back from an apologetic (and upset at his predicament) landlord.

SuperDudley

The thing is, your auto insurance covers you regardless of which vehicle you are driving and what state you are driving in. It is automatically transferrable to any vehicle.

On the flip side, your homeowners insurance does not apply to any house where you decide to spend the night. It is written for a specific property and if you look at your dec page and the policy package, it will specifically refer to and "Insured Location". Liability coverage follows you everywhere to protect against negligence, but not Homeowners Coverage.

Once again, and mind you I am speaking as someone who has been in the insurance industry for a number of years, you cannot insure something you do not have an insurable interest in. I would suspect that the lease possibly requires the customer to have liability coverage but they cannot force someone to protect the value of the home, should a catastrophic event occur.

CPRich

If you rule out the areas that have ever been hit by a hurricane, you rule out just about anything in the Caribbean/Atlantic. Those folks visiting NYC this week must be crazy for visiting during hurricane season, eh?

Dan98

Jesus. Is this even possible ? ... is with these laws in US , that judge is a freeakin' moron.