Water damage in a rented home

Water from inside the building

A pipe bursting, a tank failing, an appliance overflowing — sudden and accidental escapes of water are generally covered perils for your belongings, whether the source was your unit or someone else's.

Your policy responds to your damaged belongings regardless of where the water started. That is the point of holding one, and it is why waiting to establish blame is usually just a delay.

Damage that developed slowly is treated differently. A long-running seep, condensation, or resulting mould is generally excluded on the same maintenance reasoning that applies to a homeowners policy.

Water you caused to someone else

If a bath overflows or a hose you connected fails, and water reaches the unit below or damages the building, that is a liability question rather than a contents one.

The personal liability section is what responds, and this is one of the more common liability claims renters make. It is also, in practice, the reason many leases require cover at all.

Deliberate damage and ordinary wear are excluded. An accident is what the section is for.

Water from outside is flood

Water arriving from outside and across the ground — a river, a storm surge, rain with nowhere to drain — is flood, and flood is excluded on renters policies as it is on homeowners policies.

Contents-only flood cover is available separately, including through the federal National Flood Insurance Program, and it is generally inexpensive because it insures belongings rather than a building.

It is one of the most overlooked products in personal insurance, largely because renters reasonably assume flooding is the building owner's problem. The building is; your belongings are not.

Sewer and drain backup

Water backing up through drains or sewers is commonly excluded from the base policy and added by endorsement, exactly as on a homeowners policy.

It matters most in ground-floor and basement units, where it is both more likely and more damaging. The endorsement is usually inexpensive and rarely offered unless asked for.

What to do when it happens

Stop the water if you can and if it is safe. Then move belongings clear before photographing, and photograph everything before anything is cleared away.

Tell the landlord and your insurer promptly, and keep a written record of both. In a shared building the sequence of who was told what and when frequently matters later.

Do not wait for the landlord's insurer to accept responsibility before claiming on your own policy. Your policy covers your belongings; theirs does not, whatever the cause turns out to be.