Fire losses can devastate without adequate NYC coop insurance
Photo by flickr4jazz / Flickr Creative Commons
Maintaining smoke alarms may save you money on your NYC coop insurance, but more importantly, they may save your life or the life of someone you love. In New York last year, firefighters responded to 25,612 structure fires, an increase of 232 over the year before. Given the number of people who live in the city, the number of structure fires doesn’t seem high — that is, unless your coop was one of the buildings affected.
NYC coop insurance is relatively inexpensive and protects not only your investment but also your savings account if a fire rips through your building and destroys everything you own. Your policy will cover your expenses to rebuild, living expenses while you rebuild and the replacement cost of everything inside your unit. This coverage will cost you about $230 to $275 annually.
In coops, smoke detectors are provided in common areas. However, it’s up to individual owners to maintain smoke alarms in their coop units. That should include changing the batteries twice a year – usually on the same weekend as the time change — conducting a monthly test to make sure the alarm is in working order.
While building owners must maintain a master insurance policy that covers fire losses for the common areas, that policy won’t cover your personal losses. Before you shop for insurance, make sure you know what you are responsible for in the event of an insured loss. A specialist at Gotham Brokerage can help you determine what type of policy and the dollar amount of coverage you need.
It’s also worth mentioning that sometimes, your coop may not have adequate insurance to rebuild the common areas. In those cases, individual owners may be assessed fees to help rebuild. It’s important to make sure your coop insurance coverage will financially protect you in that scenario as well so that you don’t tap your savings account paying for the new chandelier in the lobby.
Gotham Brokerage, a family-run business in New York City for more than 50 years, can match you up with the right agent. For more information, give us a call at [telnumlink]212-406-7300[/telnumlink] or fill out the form at right.
