Farmers Loss of Use Coverage: Your Time Limit Is Printed on the Declarations

By Mike Wojciak, founder, Agile RV Housing

Published September 16, 2026. Last updated October 26, 2026.

On a Farmers Smart Plan Home policy, Coverage D (Loss of Use) pays the actual, reasonable and necessary increase in living expense, which can include an RV placed on your own property, for the shortest time reasonably needed to repair your home or permanently relocate.

The outer limit isn't a number printed in the form. It's "the time period shown in the Declarations." Older Farmers forms print their own: 24 months on the earlier 56-5544 and 56-5536 forms, 12 months on Protector Plus and Special Form.

So get two answers before any housing decision: which Farmers form you hold, and what your declarations say. Our placements run a 30 day minimum and then month to month, and your Farmers clock decides how long one can run.

We're an independent housing company with no tie to Farmers. Nothing on this page decides your claim. Your Farmers adjuster does.

Which Farmers form do you have?

Your Farmers homeowners form decides where the loss of use time limit lives. The Smart Plan Home policy caps additional living expense at the time period shown on your declarations and prints no month count in the form. The earlier 56-5544 and 56-5536 forms print 24 months, and the Protector Plus and Special Form policies print 12 months.

Farmers form	Editions we read	Where the additional living expense time limit sits	Source
Smart Plan Home	Nevada 56-5640 1st Edition 6-15; Oklahoma 56-5646 1st Edition 2-15	On your declarations: "the time period shown in the Declarations"	Sources 1 and 2
Earlier homeowners form	Nevada 56-5544 2nd Edition 7-08; Oklahoma 56-5536 1st Edition 6-06	In the form: 24 months	Sources 4 and 5
Protector Plus	56-5274 4th Edition 4-89	In the form: 12 months	Source 6
Special Form	56-5270 4th Edition 4-89	In the form: 12 months	Source 7

Nevada's Division of Insurance lists Smart Plan Home as the Farmers program open to new business there, and the other three as existing policies only. Forms vary by state, and these are the specimens we could confirm. Your own policy booklet settles which one is yours.

The Smart Plan clause reads:

"Reimbursement for additional living expense will be for the shortest time reasonably needed to: (a) repair or replace the loss or damage to the dwelling, or (b) permanently relocate, but in no event for more than the time period shown in the Declarations."

Two Smart Plan households on the same street can carry different clocks, because each family's number sits on its own declarations. The form also says those periods are "not limited by cancellation, renewal or non-renewal of this policy." A renewal date that lands in the middle of repairs doesn't shorten anything.

Our average placement runs about five months. That sits inside even a 12 month form, but on Smart Plan, confirm the declarations line instead of assuming it. Our additional living expense coverage guide explains how loss of use limits are built across policies in general.

Can Farmers pay temporary living expenses up front?

Sometimes, yes. Farmers' own claims guidance says, "When appropriate, you can receive a check on the spot for temporary living expenses or starting repairs." After a catastrophic loss, Farmers says it may be able to help with immediate needs such as food and temporary housing while the claim is in process. Ask your Farmers adjuster for it.

The same Farmers page says that in most cases its adjusters "are Farmers employees, not contractors." That's who you ask, and the earlier in the claim, the better.

The policy itself runs on reimbursement. The Smart Plan form pays for living expense "incurred by you," so whatever Farmers doesn't hand over on the spot, you spend first and document.

Housing usually works differently. On most of our placements the adjuster approves Agile's written estimate and pays Agile directly, and the family usually doesn't front the cost of the RV. Our process with any insurer, Farmers included, is laid out on the insurance carriers page.

Does Farmers pay if the power or water is out?

Not when the outage is the whole story. The Farmers Smart Plan form says Prohibited Use does not apply to threatened damage or "only because of area wide utility outage." It pays for no more than two weeks, and only when a civil authority bars you from a habitable home because of physical damage to a neighboring premises.

Prohibited Use on the Smart Plan form needs all of these at once:

A civil authority order that prohibits use of your dwelling.
Physical damage to a neighboring premises, of a kind the policy would have covered had it happened to your house.
A home that is still "habitable or fit to live in."

The older forms also stop at two weeks. The earlier 56-5544 form excludes threatened damage too, though its wording has no utility outage sentence.

Farmers' consumer article on loss of use describes prohibited use more loosely, as evacuation orders or safety authorities keeping you out because of events nearby. Your claim is measured against the policy wording.

The longer additional living expense coverage starts from a different trigger: covered physical damage to your own dwelling that makes the part where you live uninhabitable. If covered damage to the house is what cut the power or water and you can't live there, the claim belongs under that coverage.

Two weeks wouldn't hold an RV anyway, since our placements run a 30 day minimum.

What does "only one household" mean for an RV on your lot?

The Farmers Smart Plan form pays additional living expense "for only one household, regardless of the number of named insureds." Two names on the policy don't create two housing budgets. Your family's lodging, meals and other added costs all draw from one Loss of Use limit per loss event, and no deductible applies to it.

That single Farmers Coverage D limit covers more than housing:

"The stated limit for Loss of Use is the total limit for all Additional Living Expense, Loss of Rents and Prohibited Use coverages for any one loss event."

The form also draws a quality line. Coverage is meant to keep "the normal standard of living you had at the time of the loss event," and expense that "raises your standard of living will not be reimbursed." A unit matched to your household size is that same standard of living, parked on your own lot.

Hotels pull harder on that one limit. A family of five needs two hotel rooms, and two rooms at typical ALE-approved rates pass $140 a night before meals, pet fees and laundry. One unit sized to the household is $120 to $140 a night, tax included.

Delivery and setup are quoted separately for each property. The full side by side is in our temporary housing cost comparison.

Keep every receipt either way. The form says, "Upon our request, you must provide receipts for expenses incurred."

The Smart Plan form names no housing type, so you can choose a reasonable option for your household and get it approved in writing before move-in. Our guide to choosing your own temporary housing walks through that step.

The lot comes first, though. Our free zoning check looks up the rules for your address, and living in an RV on your property is our guide to staying home during repairs. After approval, move-in takes about four days, with the electrical contractor's schedule as the main variable.

Questions Farmers policyholders ask

How long does Farmers pay for temporary housing?

It depends on your Farmers form. The Smart Plan Home policy pays additional living expense for the shortest time reasonably needed to repair or permanently relocate, never longer than the time period on your declarations. The earlier 56-5544 and 56-5536 forms cap it at 24 months, and the Protector Plus and Special Form policies cap it at 12 months.

Does Farmers pay for an RV during home repairs?

The Farmers Smart Plan form names no housing type. It pays the actual, reasonable and necessary increase in living expense needed to keep your household at the standard of living it had before the loss. An RV placed on your own property can meet that test, and your Farmers adjuster decides whether a specific unit is reasonable.

What is Coverage D on a Farmers policy?

Coverage D is Loss of Use. On the Farmers Smart Plan Home policy it has three parts: Additional Living Expense, Loss of Rents and Prohibited Use. One stated limit on your declarations covers all three for any one loss event, and no deductible applies. Farmers' earlier 56-5544, Protector Plus and Special Form policies also call it Coverage D.

Does Farmers require receipts for additional living expenses?

Yes, when Farmers asks. The Smart Plan form says, "Upon our request, you must provide receipts for expenses incurred," and it reimburses expenses you actually incurred. Save receipts from the first night out of the house: lodging, restaurant meals, transportation and laundry. When an adjuster pays a housing provider directly, that provider's invoice documents the housing.

Does Farmers pay temporary housing during a neighborhood evacuation?

It can, under Smart Plan Prohibited Use, for no more than two weeks, when a civil authority bars you from your home because of physical damage to a neighboring premises that the policy would have covered at your house. Your home must still be habitable. Threatened damage does not trigger it, and neither does an area wide utility outage on its own.

Will Farmers pay Agile RV Housing directly?

On most of our placements, the adjuster approves Agile's written estimate and pays Agile directly, so the family usually does not pay for the RV up front. Your Farmers adjuster decides how payment runs on your claim. To start, send your property address through our request form and we'll reply with a written estimate.

Is Farmers loss of use 12 months or 24 months?

It depends on the form. The earlier Farmers forms 56-5544 (Nevada) and 56-5536 (Oklahoma) print 24 months. Protector Plus and Special Form policies print 12 months. The Smart Plan Home policy prints no month count in the form: its limit is the time period shown on your declarations, so ask your Farmers agent to read that line to you.

How much can I spend on temporary housing with Farmers?

Your ceiling is the stated Loss of Use limit on your Farmers declarations, and that same limit also covers Loss of Rents and Prohibited Use for the loss event. Within it, the Smart Plan form pays only the actual, reasonable and necessary increase in living expense, and nothing that raises your standard of living.

Can I choose my own temporary housing with Farmers?

Yes, as long as the choice is reasonable for your household and your Farmers adjuster approves it in writing before you move in. The Smart Plan form names no required housing type. It measures whether the increase in living expense is actual, reasonable and necessary, and a unit sized to your household on your own lot can meet that.

Sources

Download the key facts on this page as a CSV

Which two answers should you get from Farmers first?

Call your Farmers agent or the Farmers Claims Center at 1-800-435-7764 and ask them to read you two things: the name of your policy form and, on a Smart Plan policy, the Loss of Use time period printed on your declarations. If the claim isn't filed yet, Farmers also takes claims through its online claim form.

Write both answers down. They tell us how long a placement can run on your claim before we price a single night.

I'm Michael Wojciak, and I started Agile after ten years in RV rental and fleet operations. More about us is here. Our phones are answered 7 am to midnight Eastern, every day, at (850) 605-4922.

Send the form name, the time period and your property address through our form to request a written estimate, and we'll reply with one sized to your Farmers clock.

Check your property Request info

Call (850) 605-4922. Answered 7am to midnight Eastern, every day.