Wednesday, July 10, 2024
Salt Lake City homeowners are seeing their insurance policies canceled over increased wildfire risk.
Urban Living
Posted By Babs De Lay on July 10, 2024, 4:00 AM
The weather has been kinda scary this season. Record-breaking highs are drying out our hillsides and mountain areas as rain has become a scarce commodity these days.
St. George is two months without rain; Salt Lake has gone weeks and more high heat is expected. As of last week, there had been more than 400 Utah wildfires, roughly 72% of them human-caused. And what happens when an area is designated with "high fire danger?" Homeowners insurance may get canceled!
People love to live in the foothills, enjoying city and mountain landscapes. Until recently, there hadn't been much talk of fire danger. Since the Camp wildfire wiped Paradise, Ca., off the map and killed 85 people in 2018, folks have been worried about freak fires. Tens of thousands have been evacuated this past week as the Thompson wildfire spreads within 60 miles of that previous disaster. Insurance companies have canceled coverage for the Paradise area, but Californians can get it through the California Fair Access to Insurance Requirements (FAIR) plan—the state's insurer of last resort. It helps owners who can't find insurance get a policy, but premiums can be $6,000 to $10,000 per year or more. One woman told the Associated Press that her home insurance that had been $1,200 per year would now be $9,750.
Salt Lake's areas of concern are the upper Avenues, City Creek Canyon and the state Capitol, Millcreek, the Cottonwood canyons, Olympus Cove, upper Draper and both sides the Oquirrhs. On the Nextdoor app, a woman in the St. Mary's neighborhood reported a cancellation notice of her insurance policy, stating that the home's risk score "exceeded the company's eligibility guidelines" and that several other neighbors' coverage had also been canceled.
In Utah, insurance companies have to give you 30-day's notice prior to cancellation unless it's for nonpayment, which requires 10 days. They can cancel if you've filed too many claims, if they suspect you intentionally set your home ablaze or filed a fraudulent claim, or they could just be pulling out of Utah's market.
Reach out to your agent to see if there's anything to do. If there's no hope, have that agent shop for a new policy. There may also be fixes you can do to your property to make it more insurable, like cutting back trees and shrubs or replacing wood shingles. Good luck—your next policy may require a second mortgage to pay for it!
About The Author
Babs De Lay
A full-time broker/owner of Urban Utah Homes and Estates, Babs De Lay serves on the Salt Lake City Historic Landmark Commission. A writer and golfer, you'll find them working as a staff guardian at the Temple at Burning Man each year.
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