Does My Homeowners Insurance Cover Roof Leaks?

Hey everybody, this is Your Insurance Attorney Anthony Lopez, for another installment of our video series where we're talking about insurance coverage in Florida and dealing with insurance companies I've been getting a lot of questions lately as a result of Hurricane Irma dealing with whether or not roof leaks are covered

It's really a great question because whether or not a roof leak is covered actually depends on what caused the roof leak So for example if your roof was damaged as a result of a hurricane, well then the roof is covered as is the damage that results from the roof leak In other words, that interior damage is the water damage that comes from the roof leak If there's not a hurricane and you come home one day from work and your roof just starts leaking, that is typically something that is not covered The way most policies in Florida work is in order for a roof leak to be covered, there needs to be an opening in the roof system that was caused by a covered peril

So what are some of the covered perils that may cause damage to your roof that would be covered? Well for example, a heavy wind and rain is typically the most common covered peril that we see here in Florida So again now we're not talking about a hurricane but we're talking about maybe a thunderstorm that rolled through your neighborhood and the high winds caused damage to your roof which created an opening that allowed the water to enter into your home That's a scenario that would be covered if something were to hit your roof and caused damage to the roof and allow water to enter the home that is also covered You know for example a tree branch falls on your roof it causes an opening it allows water to come in your home That is also something that's covered

Those are the typical scenarios that we see in Florida with respect to roof leaks Again it's important to know that if you come home and your roof just starts leaking because it's old or wear-and-tear, those are definitely items that are not going to be covered But before you make that determination, I think it's important you seek the advice of somebody knowledgeable in the field whether it's a public adjuster or an insurance attorney like myself If you're not sure ask because it's better to find out and what my clients will typically do if they don't know, they'll call us and I'll send out an engineer to the house and we'll figure out what caused that damage and if it's something that's covered we can have the claim reported to your insurance company So that basically covers the topic of roof leaks and those are the common scenarios that we see here in South Florida

So if you have any questions you know feel free to ring us and I hope you like the video Thanks guys