You have sold your home and you are moving, congratulations! Time to pack up your items, hire movers and clean the house or hire someone to do it for you (totally what I would do). One more important thing to add to your to do list is to call your insurance agent.
When you sell your home, it is your responsibility to cancel your insurance policy. The title company cannot do it, the mortgage company cannot do it, and your mom can’t do it for you either.
An insurance policy is a legal, binding contract between you and your insurance company. So – to cancel the “contract” – you “the named insured” and any other named insured on the policy need to sign a form to cancel that contract. That is the only way to cancel the policy.
We suggest waiting until after the closing occurs before contacting your agent. Once a closing takes place you can contact your agent and they will prepare a form for you to sign. Remember, any other “named insured” on the policy will be required to sign the form too. Most common named insureds on a policy are husband and wife.
That form is then sent to the company for processing on the effective date established by the closing. You should receive a refund from any prepaid premium for your homeowner’s policy. Make sure to give your agent your
new mailing address when you sign the cancellation form so that you will get a confirmation of the cancel as well as eliminate forward mail time on any premium owed back to you. Failure to cancel the policy within a couple weeks of the sale date may result in paying for coverage you did not use. Typically, a cancel can only be backdated 30 days.
You will also want to check with your agent to confirm whether you have any scheduled items on the policy you are canceling. Scheduled items may include jewelry, boats, snowmobiles, tractors, bikes, electronics, and arts to name a few. Liability can also be extended to another home or property you own so you will want to clarify that as well. Scheduled items and extended liability should be added to the new home policy the day you cancel the sold one.
Whether you’re selling to buy or selling to rent we’d love to be your agent and we can work together through all the necessary steps. We are always here to help. You can call us at 231-347-8113, email us at insurance@harborbrenn.com, or even text us at 231-487-6050.
