Insurance company tells Menlo Park homeowner his house is too old to insure

Robert Wendell received a surprise notice from his insurance company in the mail recently: a notice of non-renewal for his homeowners' insurance because his home is too old. Wilson Walker reports.

[curiouspenguin]

OK. Let's all go live in tents on public land and stop paying all taxes. Ridiculous! Many older homes are better built than the newer ones.

[miahill]

Pure greed. What about the almost 30 years this homeowner paid?

[LokiChaos-gqrs]

Meanwhile some newly built houses are riddled with flaws.... 😂

[leunam]

Insurance companies are the largest election donors in Sacramento and control the laws and regulations.

[julieb]

We're at the mercy of corporate thieves, who are calling all the shots.

[yatta]

Imagine if an entire Historical District couldn't get insured because of age. Also plenty of municipal buildings, office building, and Churches older than that.

[justinwahip]

Gov should make the law if they kick you out and you have no claims half your premiums are returned from the life time of the policy.

[gzhang]

Declining insurance coverage to houses based on age sounds discrimination. An old house does not necessarily mean falling behind code upgrades, though often they are. So the insurance companies must provide specific reasons.
We were declined coverage by our insurer unless we fixed the roof while we were working out the details for a remodel. So we accepted that as a valid reason. Our house after remodel would be a brand new house except the framing and the foundation.

[dyrectory_com]

There should be a class action against this insurance company... 💡

[eckankar]

My house was built in 1949 and built better than any new home out there.

[lunasky]

My house is over 100. Previous owner upgraded the electric and plumbing systems. And added earth quake protection. There is no reason to reject a house because of age if the electric and plumbing are new. Frickin insurance companies! Cant the state insurance commissioner do something?

[MrMojabo]

If no claims where ever made the insurance cabal should be made to return all money the insurers paid. All years returned to them

[jasonpierce]

The insurance companies need to give these people a full refund for every penny they paid over the years.

[wvpwpck]

WHAT! So what if it's to old!!! This is B.S.! CALIFORNIA is so F'ed up!

[macforme]

The problem with insurance companies is that you hand over your dues for 30+ YEARS and when you do have to make a
claim... they say that's not covered... or they offer pennies on the dollar that you will need to fix the problem.
We need more regulation so they can't just sit back and rake in the money for nothing in return.

[cedricjackson]

The house is too old to have to be the dumbest BS excuse I ever heard from an insurance company

[rainbow]

It should be a class action lawsuit against insurance company

[blkcoupequattro]

Glad we put a new roof on couple years ago, but our home is over 100 years old now, but was updated sometime in the 70's both the foundation, and the wiring....

[PlasmaCoolantLeak]

I missed which insurance company he's dealing with. .

[jeffreyscott]

You probably need to ask the neighbors who their insurance company is