Is Your Tree House a Risk for Home Insurance Claims?

You have decided it is time to let your child's love of nature really come to life. Whether you are living out your own childhood dreams or you are just trying to encourage your child's imagination, a tree house can be an excellent investment for the home. Even the most well-built and stable tree house, though, can become a safety risk. And your home insurance provider may want to know that a tree house exists on your property as a key component of your policy. What do you need to know about home insurance and tree houses?

Some home insurance policies have very specific rules on some types of investments made into homes that can be of a high risk. For example, an in-ground pool or a trampoline can be a high risk. If your home insurance policy has an exclusion to one of these types of risks, it is likely that the company will not honor any claims made against it.

Tree houses may be excluded in home insurance policies as well. The good news is that this is much less often than exclusions for trampolines. However, many insurers will have requirements for these types of structures including how high they can be and whether or not you need more liability insurance in place if you plan to have other children joining your own.

A specific area of concern are high-value tree houses. These are growing in popularity currently. These higher value tree homes tend to be nearly full structures, and some are designed for adults as well. If this is the type of investment you plan to make, be sure you have a separate property insurance policy in place on that investment. This should be treated as a separate structure on your property in most cases.

When it comes to a tree house, don't forget to include your home insurance agent. He or she needs to know that you have the tree house, that your policy covers it, and that your policy limits are high enough to mitigate the risks you face with it.