If you live in the South, you can probably count on one hand the number of times you’ve looked outside and the street looked like a slushie.
But if you own apartments, condos, or really anything with a lot of plumbing, the storm that sticks with you is the one that turns your building into an indoor water feature
“Winter Storm Fern,” from just a few weeks ago, is already being estimated at around $6.7B in privately insured losses, and burst pipes played a big part, especially in places that do not normally get the kind of cold that makes plumbing explode.
A roof claim is usually pretty obvious. Pipe claims are sneaky. It starts as “one unit has a problem” and ends as “why is the hallway ceiling sagging?” and then it becomes “how are we relocating tenants?” and then your maintenance guy is suddenly the most powerful man in the United States.
The insurance part should be simpler, but it’s usually not.
Most owners know their total insured value. Fewer owners know what their water damage deductible is, what their water sublimits look like, or whether their loss of rents actually matches today’s rent roll.
So if you want the insurance boring advice (that saves money), it is this.
Do a cold snap gut check before you get another surprise forecast.
Vacant units: Who is checking them and how often?
After hours: Who has shutoff access when it is 2 a.m.?
Heat responsibility: Is it clearly the tenant, the owner, or the HOA?
Insurance fine print: Water deductibles and sub-limits, not just the big number
Loss of rents: Sized to current rents, not last year’s
None of this is complicated. It is just easy to ignore until the building starts dripping.
Andrew Sink
205-767-8933
