while staying with friends, someone broke in....

by Guest » Sat Apr 02, 2011 11:41 am
Guest

My husband and I went to stay with some friends [another married couple] who generously offered us a room in their home when it was needed. During our brief stay, one of their friends broke into the home [through our bedroom window] and stole a few of her personal items, but they mostly stole our stuff.

Our laptop and my husband's watch collection were stolen from our room and my mountain bike and his weed eater and air compressor from the back yard [he had just recently began his own landscaping company and all equipment was brand new].....

Will their homeowner policy cover theft of *our* belongings?
Will it cover the things that were taken from the back yard as well as the items inside the house?

Or are we screwed? lol

Thanks for any helpful answers!!!!

Total Comments: 5

Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2011 11:48 am Post Subject:

In Pa most homeowners policies will provide limited coverage for property on the premises(irregardles of the original owner) if the homeowner presents it in the claim. And assuming that you are a resident of the house.

Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2011 11:58 am Post Subject: theft

The break-in happened in Kentucky the weekend of Halloween 2010. We got our own place on December 12, 2010. Our friends, the homeowners, have still not contacted their insurance company OR the police to file a report of the theft! We discussed it with them *many* times and even made plans more than once to call the police and file the report together. They made themselves scarce each time our plan was supposed to be followed up on.

So, we are no longer residents of the home from which our property was stolen and have lost almost all contact with the homeowners who are now divorced!

We lost over $2,000.00 worth of property and are at a loss [other than taking the wife who still resides in the home to small claims court and suing her personally] as to how to force her to get this done so we can be compensated for our loss due to her negligence. We learned after the incident that she knew this friend had a reputation for being a thief [as well as a record reflecting such] and still allowed him access to the entire house. He was unemployed and would sometimes stay over for days at a time and be home alone while we were all gone.

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 04:14 pm Post Subject:

Personal property of others is not generally covered by a homeowner's policy. Negligence on the part of the insured is. Without a police report, no insurance company will pay for "lost or stolen" personal property.

It is doubtful that there was any negligence on the part of the insured in your situation, although there could have been criminal involvement (conspiracy), which might be why your "friend" has never reported this to the police. In what way do you believe there was negligence? (Were the windows missing, were the window locks broken/missing, was there a sign in front of the house "Come steal my friend's computer and other stuff"?)

However, when YOUR property is stolen, no one else can report that to the police but you. Why didn't you report the theft at the time?

We learned after the incident that she knew this friend had a reputation for being a thief [as well as a record reflecting such] and still allowed him access to the entire house. He was unemployed and would sometimes stay over for days at a time and be home alone while we were all gone.


That is still not a negligence issue. The fact remains, YOUR property was stolen, and YOU should have filed a police report, and if YOU knew who the perpetrator was, they could have arrested him at the time, and you might have recovered your property at the time.

Way too many failures on YOUR part here. Sorry.

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 04:23 am Post Subject: bicycle theft

I am a guest in a home in arizona, my bicycle was stolen today, valued at $5000, i called police and filede a report, he contacted his insurance company. Will his homeowners insurance cover the theft of the bicycle

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 06:24 am Post Subject:

When you call yourself a "guest", what do you mean by that? Generally, the answer will be NO unless your "friend" was negligent in some manner.

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