When a fire damages your home in Georgia, the insurance company pays to restore it to its pre-loss condition. What they don't automatically pay for is the cost of bringing your home up to current building code — unless you have Ordinance or Law coverage. For older Georgia homes, this gap can be substantial, and most homeowners don't know it exists until they're in the middle of a claim.
What Ordinance or Law coverage is
Ordinance or Law coverage (sometimes called "O&L" or "building code upgrade coverage") is an endorsement or coverage component that pays for the increased cost of rebuilding due to local building codes, zoning laws, or ordinances. Standard homeowners dwelling coverage does not include this — it's separate coverage that either appears as a line item in your declarations page or must be added as an endorsement.
The coverage typically has three components:
- Coverage A — Loss of the undamaged portion: If code requires demolishing undamaged portions of a structure because the damaged portion can't be rebuilt without it, this covers the value of what you're required to tear down.
- Coverage B — Demolition cost: The cost to demolish undamaged portions required by code.
- Coverage C — Increased cost of construction: The added expense of rebuilding to current code rather than pre-loss condition. This is typically the most significant component.
When it matters most: pre-1980 Georgia homes
Building codes have changed substantially since the 1970s. A home built in 1965 may have original knob-and-tube or aluminum wiring, below-current insulation standards, original plumbing that doesn't meet current requirements, and potentially asbestos-containing materials in walls and ceilings.
When a fire damages a home like this and reconstruction is permitted, local building departments in the Atlanta metro — and in jurisdictions across Georgia — require the reconstruction to meet current code. That means:
- Electrical systems brought up to current NEC standards
- Asbestos-containing materials abated before reconstruction
- Insulation meeting current energy code
- Any structural work meeting current load calculations
None of these upgrades existed in the pre-loss home. Standard dwelling coverage doesn't pay for them. Without Ordinance or Law coverage, these costs come out of pocket.
What happened in my claim
My Atlanta home, built before 1980, had asbestos in the joint compound throughout. The fire triggered an abatement requirement. Beyond the abatement itself, the reconstruction required electrical updates to meet current code as a permit condition.
The asbestos abatement dispute — whether it was covered under the fire claim — was one of the more contentious elements of the claim. The electrical upgrades were a separate cost. Both were tied directly to building code requirements triggered by the fire, not to any choice we made in reconstruction.
Ordinance or Law coverage would have addressed these costs more cleanly. Understanding whether you have it — and how much — is worth checking now.
How to check your coverage
Pull your declarations page and policy documents. Look for:
- A line item for "Ordinance or Law" or "Building Code Upgrade" coverage
- An endorsement number (often starts with "HO" for homeowners)
- A coverage limit — this is often expressed as a percentage of dwelling coverage
If you don't see it, call your agent and ask specifically whether your policy includes Ordinance or Law coverage and at what limit. If it's not there, ask what it costs to add. For an older Georgia home in a jurisdiction with active code enforcement, this is not optional coverage — it's a significant gap in your protection.
If you already have coverage, check the limit. A 10% Ordinance or Law limit on a $200,000 dwelling means $20,000 in code upgrade coverage. For a major loss on a 1960s home, that may not be enough.
For more on how fire damage claims in Georgia interact with code requirements, see how Resurgens handles the full scope of fire loss claims.
Related: What Asbestos in Your Walls Means for a Fire Insurance Claim in Georgia — what triggers abatement requirements and how insurers dispute the cost.