Will homeowners insurance pay for bat damage?

Discovering a bat (or even worse, a colony of bats) living inside your attic is definitely one of the most unpleasant surprises you can expect as a homeowner. And yet, as society continues to expand, natural bat habitats shrink, and the poor creatures are forced to come live alongside humans. What's more, a human property offers pretty much everything that a bat needs to thrive. Readily available food sources, in the form of insects and other critters, and shelter. 

In fact, for many bats, living inside a human home is actually preferable because it keeps them more sheltered from other potential predators. Still, that doesn't help you, the owner, much. So what can you do to get rid of a pesky bat on your property? And what's even worse, who is paying to repair all the damage left behind?

A lot of property owners wonder if their insurance might handle such issues. But the answer, it turns out, is a little trickier than that. 

It depends on the insurer, and on your contract. Many insurance policies refuse to cover the cost of removing bat colonies from properties because they don't consider it their job. Since the bats most likely entered through a gap or crack in the structure, they deem it a maintenance issue, and thus not covered by the insurance policy.

However, if the bat causes actual physical damage to your property (we'll get to that in a moment), your insurance policy may cover it. Personally, we would highly recommend that you check these things before you actually need them, because it may end up saving you a pretty penny. 

While traditional homeowners insurance may not cover the damage of a resident bat, additional policies may be considered and added, in order to have your back. Incidences of a bat sneaking into your home are fairly large, so it can't hurt being covered on this.

So to wrap up the title question, homeowners insurance may cover the damage caused by bats on your property (varying from policy to policy), but it will not cover bat removal or bat proofing services. Since those are general maintenance concerns, those are considered to be your responsibilities. 

What kind of damage can you expect from a bat?

It may also help you to know the types of damage you can expect if ever you do host a resident bat or a bat colony. The fact of the matter is, while bats aren't destructive beings per se, they can cause quite a hefty amount of damage to your property by merely existing. 

One of the biggest concerns when it comes to bats is disease. Bats are well-known carriers of a wide hoard of diseases, including more recently Covid-19. So having them inside your home immediately exposes you, your family, and pets to said diseases. The presence of bat droppings, hair, and other such "leftovers" can seriously put you at risk, so the first thing you'll need to do once you've disposed of the bat in question is run a thorough cleaning. 

Bat guano (aka bat poop) is riddled with disease, and so you're expected to wear a mask while disposing of it, since you can actually become infected through inhalation. Guano can also lead to corrosion, staining, and even physical damage to property. Large enough amounts of guano, left unchecked over time, can actually seep into the floor and structure of your home, and may even put it at risk of collapse.

So at the end of the day, you want to figure out as soon as possible if your homeowner's insurance covers this damage or not!