Does renters/condo insurance usually cover damage caused by a leaking water pipe?
May 24, 2010 by
Filed under condo insurance
We live in a condo, upstairs. Our insurance will cover any water damage done to my neighbor below but will it cover damage to our bathroom? We may have a leak behind the wall where the shower is. Possibly a faucet. Will have it repaired tomorrow but what if the damage behind the walls is extensive in our bathroom. Will most insurances cover it? We have a renters type that covers the inside of the condo, we own our condo but the insurance is essentially the same type as renters, and any liability to other units. Any damage caused by a leaky roof or something would be covered by the property management insurance.
There is usually $5000 in coverage for the structure. Basically you own the walls in on a condo. Condo Owners Insurance is usually named peril, so you just need to see if water damage due to plumbing problem is one of those perils.
What exactly do you mean by “our insurance”? There are usually TWO policies – a master policy, covering the association and common areas, and a unit owners policy.
MOST master policies have a hefty deductible – up to $50,000. Many will flat out exclude water damage, as that’s the most common type claim in habitational properties. In other words, don’t bet that damage from a leaky roof is going to be covered by the master policy. Even if it is, if the damage is only to one or two units, it’s likely going to be under the deductible.
Your condo unit owner’s does NOT cover water damage to the unit below yours, unless you are NEGLIGENT. If it’s accidental, like a leaky toilet or a burst pipe, your unit policy doesn’t cover someone else’s unit. Your unit policy WOULD cover the water damage to YOUR unit, but not the leaky pipe itself.
If you own the condo unit you don’t have a renters type of insurance you have a condominium owners insurance policy, often referred to as an HO-6, which is more like a homeowners insurance policy. The key to who covers what, is found in your condominium bylaws. Your condo association purchases insurance on the building and premises. Broadly speaking there are two approaches your association can take to insure the property. The approach your association chooses will be enumerated in your condominium bylaws.
Under one approach the condo association agrees to cover only the exterior and common areas. You, then, are responsible to insure the interior this can include walls, wall coverings, flooring, furnace, appliances, lighting, plumbing fixtures, kitchen and bath cabinets (basically everything inside your condo). In this scenario you are responsible not only for your personal property but also the entire interior of your condo. As an insurance agent I did not like this approach because it is very difficult to determine how much insurance you should have to be able to repair or replace everything in within the walls of your condo.
The other approach, which I always preferred, was more comprehensive where the association agrees to cover the entire unit as it was originally built. In this scenario you only insure your upgrades (i.e. bookcases, upgrades, finished basements. etc.) and your personal property.
Hopefully you and your insurance agent carefully reviewed your condo bylaws when you bought your. If you don’t insure the property that you are responsible for you could find yourself woefully under insured and perhaps unable to rebuild your condo.
So your condo bylaws will tell you who (you or the association) is responsible for insuring water damage behind a wall.
In addition to insuring the part of the building you are responsible for you need to determine the replacement cost of your personal property within the condo. As long as you are reviewing your coverage it probably would not be a bad idea to verify the adequacy of your contents coverage limit.