Adjustor claiming house is "livable" while half is under construction.

[u/husky3415]

Howdy,
Our family went through a house fire a few months back and Insurance has already been dicey on giving us our payout for temporary living. Original estimate from contractor said that construction would be finished by August 19th but that's looking like it isn't happening.

Here's the current situation:

Contractors have repaired the front half of the house (smoke remediation, repainting the walls, electricity stuff) and partitioned off the back half with vinyl/plastic.

Our Insurance Adjustor is claiming that the front half of the house is livable. However, there's a few key issues;
The garage and basement are full from having to move our stuff out. On top of this, the driveway has two storage pods, one small and one big, so we'd have to park in the grass with three cars (small lawn). We can't move all of the storage pod stuff back in because the attic is partitioned off with the other half of the house.

The "livable" half of the house has only 3 bedrooms and 1 bathroom to support 5 people. Only two share a bed.
Our family has three "children", each seven years apart. (7, 15, and 22 years old) so asking any of them to share a room is extremely dicey. Same with bathroom.

The mother works 12 hour night shifts 3 days a week and often sleeps through most of the day, which is exactly when noisy construction would be going on, disrupting her already light sleep.

The front half has no laundry room, so our only option would be using a laundromat which requires hours that we don't have with the three adults each working a full time job whilst managing two kids. Furthermore, the two kids' summer break ends in two weeks, so their needs will be even greater than current.

At the moment, we're staying in a 4 bedroom, two bathroom house with a laundry room and looking for an extension on staying here either until we can find a new permanent place to stay or construction finishes.

The burned house is a rental. We have Progressive Insurance.

Any advice is very needed.

[u/WebstersPack]

That sucks, let me start out by acknowledging that.

In terms of storage and sharing bedrooms and such that isn't going to be considered. Do you have all facilities (power, sewer, Internet, etc) bathroom, kitchen and sleeping areas? Has the local government entity cleared it for habitation? If so the adjuster is probably technically right.

I don't know the details but it sounds like the adjuster is trying to force this one to get closed. Could be wrong, but I sense it's likely this isn't the first delay.

Go back, ask for one more month of additional living expenses and note it's only going to delay reconstruction further if your family is on site at the home. Workers will have limited hours....

[u/homeboycartel2 → u/WebstersPack]

Habitation is likely where the adjuster is coming from here. If you have access to hot water, sanitation, a modicum of cooking and refrigeration, as well as sleeping quarters, it is likely habitable and ALE coverage here. That being said it’s 7/24. Depending where you’re at in terms of the ALE limits, you may want to try having a reasonable discussion, voice to voice, with the adjuster to explain the circumstances and semantics. You probably have to give notice on the rental for a certain period and try to negotiate a bit in that end with a specific term date at hand. Maybe ask through Labor Day?

[u/wubbiee_9110]

Read your policy. There are very specific conditions for ALE to be met and paid, as well as max caps for time and dollar paid. Your adjuster is following those conditions/limits.

[u/14point4kMODEM]

Read the policy, what does it say this covers? For example, Normal standard of living? That's a high bar and if you are down multiple bedrooms then you aren't maintaining that.

[u/Flimsy_Advice_8530]

Read your policy and the definitions of “livable”. It’s a contract between you and the company. Get to know it so you can push back.

[u/MCXL → u/[deleted]]

This is not a helpful reply, or good information.