If a hurricane strikes your vacation rental property, it may be hard to know how to tackle the situation, especially from a distance. Hopefully the following guidelines on talking to your renters, filing insurance claims, inspecting your home, and hiring maintenance services will help you handle your property and your renters.

Talking to Your Renters

Before you even start filing your insurance claims and contacting maintenance services, you need to think about your rentals on the books. If you have bookings for the weeks or months following a hurricane, and your home is not livable or accessible, you need to contact each renter, explain the situation, and offer some alternatives. Here are some options to consider:

• Suggest alternate reservation dates with a partial refund for the inconvenience.
• Offer to cancel the reservation for a full refund, but encourage them to try to rebook in the future.

Another option to consider is to highly encourage your guests to purchase travel insurance at the time of booking.  While you can't suggest this after-the-fact, it's a good idea to incorporate it into your rental agreement moving forward.  If the traveler had purchased travel insurance, they should be able to file a claim to get a refund for the rental amount. 

Note: If your insurance policy covers “loss of use”, you could be compensated for your lost rent based on an agreed amount between you and your insurance company. Talk to your insurance agent for more information.

Filing Insurance Claims

Now that your renters are squared away, it's time to address the potential damage at your home. Here are some tips for handling your insurance claims:

• Revisit your insurance policy. Know what it excludes before you contact your insurance agent. If your policy covers hurricanes, an adjuster will likely be assigned to inspect your home.
• If you can visit your vacation home, separate damaged and undamaged items.
• While you're at home, take pictures or videotape of your belongings and the condition of your home.
• Locate your financial records.
• Keep detailed records of cleaning costs.
  

Inspecting Your Vacation Home

After a hurricane, you will need to inspect your house and property for damage. If you do not live in the area where your vacation home is located, ask your housekeeper for help in assessing the damage, keeping these pointers in mind:

• Look for fire hazards. Make reports to your local fire or police department depending upon seriousness of the hazard. 
• Contact the utility company about damaged power lines. Don't touch downed power lines or objects touching them.
• Wear sturdy shoes or boots, long sleeves, and gloves when handling or walking on or near debris.
• If you suspect damage to your home, shut off the electricity, natural gas, and propane to avoid fire, electrocution or explosions.
• Don't use lights or home appliances until an electrician checks them.
• If you suspect a natural gas leak, turn off the main gas valve, open all windows, and immediately leave the house. Alert the gas company, the police or the fire departments. Don't do anything that could cause a spark, including turning on the lights. Don't return until you are told it is safe to do so.
• Inspect foundations, walls, floors, doors, and windows to make sure that the building is not in danger of collapsing.
• Never use generators, pressure washers, grills, camp stoves, or any gasoline, propane, natural gas, or charcoal-burning devices inside. Don't even use them outside near an open window, door, or vent. Carbon monoxide can build up in your home and poison the people inside.
• Listen to a battery operated radio for emergency information
• Contact your health department about damaged septic tanks, cesspools, pits, and leaching systems.
• Throw away all food, even if it's canned, that flood waters have touched. Have the health department test tap water.
• Gradually pump water out of flooded basements to prevent structural damage. Only pump about 1/3 of the water per day.
• Open doors and windows to help the rooms dry.
• Shovel mud while it is still moist so walls and floors can dry.
  

Hiring Maintenance Services

Once you've had the chance to inspect your home and assess the initial damage, you may want to hire a professional to confirm that everything is safe and sound or to get started on repairs. However, many handymen and other contractors get booked up rather quickly after a natural disaster, and unfortunately, some fly-by-night contractors will take advantage of the chaos and might quote unfair prices. It's important to develop relationships with maintenance service providers so you have someone to rely on, not only for day-to-day maintenance tasks, but also in the event of a natural disaster.

What steps did you take to get your vacation home back to normal after a hurricane?

Sample Hurricane Policy for Your Vacation Rental Property It's important to have established hurricane and storm policies for your renters.   What to Do if a Hurricane is Heading Right for Your Vacation Property How to deal with hurricanes headed straight for your vacation rental home when you live faraway.   How to Find a Housekeeper and Maintenance Person Tips for finding cleaning and maintenance people for your vacation rental home.   Homeowner's Insurance for Vacation Rental Homes Accidents happen. Shield yourself from the unforseen with Homeowner's Insurance.

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