Will homeowner's insurance cover taking down a dead and rotting tree or do you have to wait for it to fall onto your house for them to cover the cleanup?

Haven't seen a policy yet that will cover maintenance.

AnswerFailure to maintain your home and property indicates a "Moral Hazard" to the insurer. and waiting for a rotten tree"to fall onto your house for them to cover it" is basically a form of "Insurance Fraud" due to the homeowners intentional act of "Planned Negligence" designed to defraud the insurance company and neglect your maintenance duties.

Your home insurance does not provide coverage for maintenance of your home and property any more than your Auto Insurer would be expected to pay for your cars regular tuneups, tire changes or oil changes.

Home insurance is also known as "Accident and Hazard Insurance" It does not cover damage that results from the Home owners intentional neglect, If you just wait for the rotten tree to fall then that is not an accident, it is intentional and any resulting damage would not be covered by your home insurance policy.

Most likely your insurance company would either cancel or non renew your policy if this plays out the way your thinking it should and you would be hard pressed to find another company willing to accept you.