403 forbidden errors after uploading files

When I create a virtual server and then upload files in to the public_html directory I get a 403 Forbidden error when navigating to the domain. I check all permissions and everything is good. Error log says "(13)Permission denied: /home/carinsurahce/public_html/.htaccess pcfg_openfile: unable to check htaccess file, ensure it is readable". I do not need an .htaccess file but I did create one just to see if that would fix it and nope still getting the same error.