Loss of use and additional living expenses: what you can actually claim
If your home is uninhabitable, your policy usually pays the extra cost of living elsewhere. Here is what qualifies and what people forget.
Most homeowner policies include loss of use, often called additional living expenses or ALE. If the home is uninhabitable because of a covered loss, the carrier pays the additional cost of living somewhere else while it is repaired.
The word doing the work is additional. Not your total cost of living — the amount by which it went up.
What that means in practice
| Expense | Claimable? |
|---|---|
| Hotel or rental accommodation | Yes — this is the main one |
| Restaurant meals above your normal grocery spend | Usually the difference, not the whole bill |
| Storage for furniture while work happens | Usually yes |
| Extra mileage from a longer commute | Often yes, at a set rate |
| Laundry, pet boarding, temporary furniture rental | Often yes |
| Your mortgage | No — you would have paid it anyway |
| Utilities at the damaged home | Generally no, though a spike from drying equipment may be |
The two limits to check today
- The amount. Often a percentage of your dwelling coverage — 20% is common — or a stated sum.
- The time. Frequently 12 or 24 months from the loss, sometimes expressed as "the reasonable time to repair". On a long restoration this is the one that bites.
Loss of use usually sits in its own bucket, distinct from the repair. Keeping it mixed in with the repair spending makes both harder to prove — and can obscure that you are approaching the ALE cap while there is still time to ask for an extension.
How to keep it
- Keep every receipt, and keep them separate from the repair receipts.
- Establish your normal spend early — a few months of pre-loss grocery bills makes the "additional" argument straightforward rather than a negotiation.
- Get accommodation approved in advance where you can. Carriers push back on a rental they consider more than comparable.
- Log the dates the home was genuinely uninhabitable, and what made it so.
On one claim we reconciled, loss of use came to $119,967.75 against a $120,000 policy cap — reimbursed essentially in full, and it netted to zero in the final shortfall calculation. That only worked because it had been tracked as its own category from the start. Mixed into the repair costs it would have muddied the whole claim.
Common questions
What are additional living expenses in insurance?
The extra cost of living elsewhere while your home is uninhabitable after a covered loss — accommodation, the increase in food costs, storage, extra travel and similar.
Does loss of use cover my mortgage?
No. You would have paid the mortgage regardless, so it is not additional. ALE covers the increase in your cost of living.
How long does loss of use last?
Typically 12 or 24 months from the loss, or the reasonable time to repair, depending on the policy. Check yours early on a long restoration.
Keep all of this in one place
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