I tell my clients, “please do not leave me without a CLUE.” There are several references to a home claims history, which reports on insurance claims if any taken out against the property. These home insurance claims history reports are sometimes also referred to as “Letter of Experience” or “CLUE Report”. The AAR Purchase contract used to sell your home requires a copy of your insurance history be delivered to the buyer of your property.

How do I obtain an insurance claims history

You will need to obtain a claims history for at least 5 years or as long as you have owned the home, whichever is shorter. You will also need to obtain from all companies if you have switched insurance providers within that time frame. The only exception being if you did not carry insurance.

Call your insurance and request a claims history report. They should provide you one for free.

When should I order the report?

Ideally you should order and obtain a copy of your home’s insurance claim history report prior to listing your home. Some clients prefer to wait until we get a contract. I discourage that. Sometimes insurance companies are very slow to issue the report. I have had multiple instances where the insurance company took a month or longer to send a report. This in turn caused a breach in contract with the buyer. It’s better to have an outdated insurance claims history report than breaking the contract with the buyer.

What if I had gaps in my insurance or no insurance at all?

We will write a notification to show that there’s no insurance history to provide. Notify your agent when you list your home if you had gaps in your coverage or no insurance at all. Especially if those gaps were in the last 5 years. This will require disclosure up front to the buyer prior to getting a purchase contract.

Can my agent order the report for me?

Years ago I had an elderly client who was admitted to the nursing home. She was overwhelmed by the process of selling her home and for the life of her couldn’t figure out how to order an insurance claims history. I exhausted every resource I could to try and obtain it for her. The short of it is, there is no central database where all insurance claims are held. They are archived by the provider of your insurance only. The insurance company will not release them without authorization by the owner of the policy (you). And even with authorization they likely won’t either as was the case for my client.

Feel free to write me a message below if you have any questions or concerns with obtaining your insurance claims history.