Slab Leaks – Covered or Not?

If you manage community associations, more specifically condominium communities, it is very likely that you’ve dealt with a slab leak. They’re sudden, they’re unforeseeable and they can be expensive. But are they covered by insurance?

To take a step back, a slab leak is a water loss where a plumbing line in the building’s foundation (slab) ruptures, causing water to come up through the foundation and damage the property.

As with the very best of insurance questions, the is-it-covered answer begins with, “it depends”. With the preface that all claims are unique and different from one another, there are differences amongst the various insurance companies in how their policies read with respect to water losses.

As the policyholder you’ll want the policy to be as broad as possible. On the property policy, this means having less exclusionary language that can apply to some of the more common types of losses. For example, having an inexpensive policy that excludes drain line backups/overflows might look good for the budget….until there is an uninsured backup/overflow incident that results in a large out of pocket expense. The same is true of slab leaks, as there are a number of insurance carriers that have language in their policies that limit coverage for such losses.

Surprisingly, some of the community association’s largest property insurance carriers limit or exclude coverage for slab leaks. It’s always best to check with your insurance agent or broker to verify what your policy’s language is with respect to slab leaks.

Fifteen minutes might save you $15,000 or more on your next slab leak!