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Can my insurance company cancel my policy because of a missing gutter?

Can insurance cancel our policy if we signed a contract and paid for a full year? We recently purchased our home and a gutter is missing. Our home insurance company did an inspection and sent us a letter stating our policy would be canceled if we didn't repair the gutter.

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Emily Maracle · Updated on
Reviewed by Shannon Martin, Licensed Insurance Agent.
“Your home insurance company does have a right to cancel your home insurance.
Most
home insurance
companies have 60 days from when the application was approved to cancel the policy for any reason. After 60 days, the policy can only be cancelled only for specific reasons. This often varies state to state.
For example, in New York a policy can cancel after 60 days due to:
  • Conviction of a crime which may increase an insurance company’s risk.
  • Omissions, inaccurate information, or fraud that increased the risk hazards to the insurance company.
  • Any changes in the property that don’t meet an insurance company’s underwriting guidelines.
Since a missing gutter is a part of regular home upkeep, the insurance company could see this as failure to maintain a home, which increases their risk. If you’d like to keep your home insurance, you should fix the gutter as soon as possible and inform your insurance company.”
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