State Farm is denying my claim for a slow leak from my half bath toilet in my home. It was from the toilet and we never saw a leak, then last week I came home to my bedroom floor flooded and the plumber showed me where there is water halfway up the drywall.The work to clean up the mess was started the very next day and the removal of the damage began this week. What is my next step?
State Farm is denying my claim for a slow leak from my half bath. Lots of water under the floor and finally flooded my home.
byu/Mistafieds615 inInsurance
Posted by Mistafieds615
9 Comments
A slow leak is not covered. They can tell if it has been a long term issue.
Review your policy and verify the language they’re citing. If it’s accurate next step is hire someone and fix your house. If the language is wrong escalate to a supervisor
What does the denial letter say? What specific facts and policy language does SF rely on to deny the claim? Can you contest those facts with evidence? Can you articulate why that policy language doesn’t apply (or why other language does apply)? Put another way – you have a very detailed and specific legal agreement with SF. All you need to do is show why the agreement obligates them to cover your claim. In fact, all you need to do is show that the agreement is at least ambiguous when it comes to covering your claim, since ambiguities are resolved in your favor.
Did the plumber explain what specifically happened that suddenly resulted in a flood?
Slow leaks are almost never covered in a policy. What I do see get covered is “sudden and accidental water damage”. Basically a single event such as burst pipes and the like.
Sounds like you already have the water extraction in process, so you’ll just need a contractor to repair. I would start getting bids. Make sure they know you arent going through insurance, they may have different self-pay prices.
A loss is typically defined as “sudden and direct”. A leak is not sudden. If this is how your policy defines loss, it isn’t covered. There may even be a deliberate exclusion for slow leaks. This makes sense to me unfortunately.
You generally need coverage for a slow leak..its sily but this happens all the time. I always make sure my water coverage includes slow leak
Allstate denied our claim for the same issue.