leak water pipe - what's covered by insurance

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zyo

511 posts

Ultimate Geek

#261946 24-Dec-2019 10:16

About 2 weeks ago we had a leak in the upstairs bathroom pipe (one of the angled connector has failed), as a result all the cabinets got water damage and the downstairs bathroom ceiling had to be cut open to fix the leak.

I am with Tower insurance and they sent an assessor to quote the repair cost.

I was told the plumber cost (around 500NZD) is related to fixing the cause and is not covered by the policy (which only cover the resultant water damage)

Is that correct? Im a bit surprised that the repair itself isn't covered.

MikeB4

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#2380810 24-Dec-2019 10:19

It would depend on the fine print of your policy. You should have a document either in paper form or online that details exclusions.

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zyo

511 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2380812 24-Dec-2019 10:22

MikeB4:

It would depend on the fine print of your policy. You should have a document either in paper form or online that details exclusions.

Here it is.

http://tower.co.nz/pw/Provider_House_Maxi_03_15.pdf

It's quite confusing to me....

MikeB4

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#2380818 24-Dec-2019 10:27

Section 10 "What you are not insured for" has the following...

"and process of cleaning, repairing or restoring"

"the cost of remedying or repairing any inherent fault, defective workmanship, materials or design"

I am not a lawyer but I guess this is the exclusion they are using.

vexxxboy

4087 posts

Uber Geek

#2380821 24-Dec-2019 10:29

it's under gradual damage , they will pay for the damage caused by the leak but not the cost of finding and repairing the leak . ie the plumber.

Common sense is not as common as you think.

davidcole

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#2380828 24-Dec-2019 10:42

As long as your can get it covered ndrit a single event and not gradual. Then it should be covered (subject to your policy). We had a leak spring under the house that is requiring a fair chunk of our wooden floors replaced.

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boosacnoodle

651 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2380830 24-Dec-2019 10:42

I have this same policy and, having read it myself, would say that this sounds about right. If you are unhappy with their decision you are welcome to raise a complaint and then subsequently contact the Insurance and Financial Services Ombudsman.

zyo

511 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2380836 24-Dec-2019 10:52

Sounds like Tower is being reasonable here based on the policy.

It's not too much money and I wouldn't really want to get stressed over during this time of the year.

tdgeek

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#2380852 24-Dec-2019 11:17

I cant see why any insurance would pay for repairs and maintenance. They cover damage

trig42

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#2380856 24-Dec-2019 11:27

Same thing happened to us a few years back.

When the house was built, a screw went into the drain pipe from the kitchen sink, which went down inside the wall of the Laundry below. Eventually, the screw rusted out and the drain leaked slowly into the wall, which ballooned out and needed to be replaced.

Insurance paid for the wall and reinstatement. We had to pay for the plumber to come and find and fix the leak.

Kickinbac

360 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2380998 24-Dec-2019 16:52

We had a leak in our wall due to the dreaded dux plumbing of the 80’s. Was a drip from a crimp. The payout was limited to $2500 due to it being gradual damage. Would have been better for the pipe to burst as we would have got a better payout. They didn’t pay for the repair.