Additional living expenses

Having to live outside your home due to damage or loss will cause an increase in your daily living expenses. Your policy should respond to those new and increased costs.

Any costs which are necessary in order for you and your family to continue living your normal lives should be covered, but only in the amount they have increased from what your normal expenses would be. For example: the entire costs of staying in a hotel should be covered, but cable bills or a theme park passes will not be. The cable bill has not increased, and the theme park pass is not necessary.

You should stay somewhere safe, but consult your policy since many suggest that the place you stay should be comparable to your home. In other words, you cannot benefit by moving into a more luxurious residence at the expense of your insurer, and the insurer cannot force you to stay in an unsuitable accommodation to save money.

Your normal bills will continue. You will still be responsible for mortgage or possibly rent payments, as well as continuing utilities. If you are told that you will be out of your home for a long period of time, you may want to inquire with your cable provider about transferring your account to the temporary residence or cancelling temporarily.

An agreement with the insurer to accept a lump sum of cash for settlement of one or more aspects of the claim. This lump sum transfers the responsibility for rectifying those concerns to the homeowner. In other words, if you accept a global cash settlement on your ALEs, it is then your responsibility to budget in order to cover all the costs you will encounter while you are out of your home. If you go over budget and cannot cover continued accommodation or moving costs, the Insurer will not provide additional funds. The same can be said for the global cash settlements for structural repair or content replacement.