April, 2009

 

       Welcome to Homestead Insurance Agency’s first e-Newsletter. As a personal service for our loyal customers, we periodically will be sending out relevant insurance information and articles focused on subject matters which inform and explain important topics related to the insurance industry. We hope you enjoy and benefit from our upcoming broadcasts and please know we never give out your email address. 

       Below you will find an interesting article on “water damage.” With spring upon us, there is no better time to revisit this topic. We hope this will clear the muddy waters a bit on the subject of what is covered and what is not. 

 

Water damage claims are some of the most challenging claims for a property adjuster to handle. Under the homeowner special form policy, the first steps to determine if coverage is afforded is to first review the exclusions and then limitations listed in the policy. The special form policy provides very broad coverage for water-related losses. In the special form policy, any peril that is not excluded is covered. However, there are certain circumstances where even the special form policy will not provide coverage. Examples of what the homeowner policy will not pay for include, but are not limited to, the following:

 

 

When water has leaked or escaped from within an appliance or plumbing, the resulting damage is covered, however, the appliance or the plumbing that malfunctioned or broke down and caused the loss to happen is not covered. In the case of a plumbing leak, the plumbing itself is not covered because of its malfunction, however the tear-out of wallboard, cabinets, etc. and the resulting need to replace or repair these items damaged in the effort to repair the leaking pipe is covered in most cases.