by kaikimk » Fri Apr 06, 2012 03:57 am
I have a landlord insurance on a rental home. We recently found leak in the garage ceiling/wall after the tenants moved out. They never told us about the leak.
subsequently, there is mold. The roof may have been damaged by a storm about 1.5 years ago. (we had roof damage from a storm from the same period)
Our claim was denied. Shouldn't we get coverage for the storm at least??
subsequently, there is mold. The roof may have been damaged by a storm about 1.5 years ago. (we had roof damage from a storm from the same period)
Our claim was denied. Shouldn't we get coverage for the storm at least??
Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2012 04:13 am Post Subject:
I give up.. what was the reason for the denial? I'm guessing not sudden/accidental, failure to report when it happened, mold exclusion, etc.
Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2012 07:56 pm Post Subject:
It depends on several things, most of all being your policy. What type of storm was it? Was the roof damaged by hair or wind? The fact that a roof leaks does not mean that there is "roof damage" from a storm event. Many times the force of the wind driven rain can cause roofs to leak without actually causing any wind damage to the roof. If it is a shingle roof you will want to look for missing shingles, loose shingles and crease lines showing where they may have been flapping in the wind. If it is hail damage you will want to look closely for hail hits as they may be difficult to find at a first glance.
The second part of your situation is the interior water damage. If you feel it has been leaking since the storm of 1-1.5 years ago you are walking into the exclusion of "constant or repeated leakage or seepage". There are a few things you can look for when trying to determine how long a leak has been going on for. First and most obvious sign of an old and on going leak is the presence of wood rot. The second thing I see insurance companies relying on a lot is Mold, however, I do not agree with this assessment as mold can and does grow withing the first 48 hours if all of the conditions are right, however, different types of mold do take different amounts of time to form.
When you have a chance please let us know what their reason for denying your claim was and if the claim happens to be in Florida let me know who the carrier is and I will take a closer look at it for you.
Good Luck!
Posted: Wed May 30, 2012 02:10 pm Post Subject:
Did you get this sorted?
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