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Homeowner's insurance assumes you're doing your due diligence to not do things that unnecessarily destroy your home. Negligence is specifically not covered when

Homeowner's insurance assumes you're doing your due diligence to not do things that unnecessarily destroy your home. Negligence is specifically not covered when it's something that you should have reasonably been able to prevent. There's a difference between a panic-induced response that makes an accidental fire worse and you making the explicit decision to install something unsafe.

mindslight 3y ago
I see the distinction you're making with my specific example, but I'm aware of no such distinction for the policies I've had. Are you referencing any concrete laws or contractual terms? Also then, a different example: You plug in a non-NRTL-tested appliance from Amazon, and it burns down your house. Clearly outside the bounds of what is prudent, but also something many people commonly do. You're telling me that insurance is set up to stiff all of them, and yet we're not seeing endless news articles about that happening?
- bigfudge 3y ago
  Ianal but the law often seems to work on the basis of terms like reasonable or expected. Buying junk electronics from Amazon is so common and risks so little publicised that it doesn’t seem reasonable to exclude them. Building a diy power supply is very uncommon and almost certainly requires knowledge to do so that would also tell you it’s a dumb idea. As an aside- do cheap electronics actually burn a lot of houses down, or is that scare mongering? I half remember reading that it was large white goods like dishwashers and washing machines that actually started most fires, and they are not typically bought on Amazon or only on price.
  - mindslight 3y ago
    If you can find some laws or contractual terms where some homeowners insurance is disclaiming homeowners doing things that are not "reasonable", I'm all ears. I'd love to find out where this meme started, or a list of jurisdictions where this can actually happen. I just think this tendency to assert that DIY causes all these scary things, especially on the pan-jurisdiction Web, is terribly harmful FUD. It appears to be from the same vein as that "voiding your warranty" nonsense (which has thankfully started to go away).
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mindslight 3y ago

I see the distinction you're making with my specific example, but I'm aware of no such distinction for the policies I've had. Are you referencing any concrete laws or contractual terms? Also then, a different example: You plug in a non-NRTL-tested appliance from Amazon, and it burns down your house. Clearly outside the bounds of what is prudent, but also something many people commonly do. You're telling me that insurance is set up to stiff all of them, and yet we're not seeing endless news articles about that happening?

bigfudge 3y ago
Ianal but the law often seems to work on the basis of terms like reasonable or expected. Buying junk electronics from Amazon is so common and risks so little publicised that it doesn’t seem reasonable to exclude them. Building a diy power supply is very uncommon and almost certainly requires knowledge to do so that would also tell you it’s a dumb idea. As an aside- do cheap electronics actually burn a lot of houses down, or is that scare mongering? I half remember reading that it was large white goods like dishwashers and washing machines that actually started most fires, and they are not typically bought on Amazon or only on price.
- mindslight 3y ago
  If you can find some laws or contractual terms where some homeowners insurance is disclaiming homeowners doing things that are not "reasonable", I'm all ears. I'd love to find out where this meme started, or a list of jurisdictions where this can actually happen. I just think this tendency to assert that DIY causes all these scary things, especially on the pan-jurisdiction Web, is terribly harmful FUD. It appears to be from the same vein as that "voiding your warranty" nonsense (which has thankfully started to go away).

deleted 3y ago

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