The Holidays and Your Guests’ Accountability

The holidays are fast approaching and you will be hosting your friends and family, getting your best outfits out and creating a festive atmosphere around traditional comforting meals. Afterwards, we take a few days off and we take in a big breath of freedom and happiness, sometimes verging recklessness!

As a result, if your guest were to cause any damage to your home during these celebrations, did you know that as a tenant you could be help responsible?

Your insurance contract

Depending on the tenant’s insurance policy, the personal liability section of your contract states that you are covered for the following:

1. Property damage — the building in which you live
2. Physical damage — any person who gets injured in your dwelling
3. Moral damage — any prejudice arising from remarks that might harm a third party

The situation

It’s December 24th and you’ve asked your sister-in-law to arrive a little earlier to help you cook your usual holiday turkey and all the sides that will transform your table into a banquet!

If your guest accidentally burns down your home during an unfortunate event involving oven mitts or forgets to turn off the water while washing the vegetables, causing water damage, your insurance contract could come into play.

Your personal liability protection will cover the damages to the building belonging to the owner, such as the walls, the kitchen cupboards, the flooring, damage cause by smoke, etc.

It is thus doubly important to make sure that you are insured because on top of protecting your damaged belongings like your stove and your kitchenware, your policy could also cover damages to the building.

It goes without saying that your insurance contract includes an amount to cover your personal property and your personal liability, which represents the limit of the amount paid out to you for each of those sections.

Preventive measures

It is important to remain alert when we are cooking with our guests and using the stove because you never know what may happen! Secondly, it is just as important to get adequate coverage to protect you in case of an unfortunate event.

In case a catastrophe does happen, do not hesitate to contact your Lareau broker. Our internal claims department can help you and guide you settle your claim. Until then, stay safe, happy celebration and happy holidays!