Recognizing that weather patterns are changing rapidly, it is interesting to note that globally, water has now become the leading ‘villain’ as it relates to property damage, surpassing the costs of insurance claims related to damage by fire and theft combined.
In the wake of the July 2013 rains and subsequent water damage, we have witnessed significant talk of change throughout various government agencies and in the insurance industry as a whole. With a record-breaking $3.2 billion in claim payouts related to severe weather events in 2013 alone, it is certainly understandable that insurers in Canada would invest a significant amount of time into reviewing changing weather patterns and the frequency and severity of related claims. Unfortunately, we are beginning to witness such events of significance which once took place every 40 years now every 4-6 years, and the insurers are responding with new limitations and exclusions specifically with respect to water.
Throughout 2014, most Insurers have introduced various changes or made clarification to their residential property policy wordings including: lower limits available for damage by sewer back up; higher deductibles for water damage; reduced discounting with respect to claims; new geographical territory definitions.
As we all know, water is an unwelcome and costly visitor to your home. In recognition of this, the City of Toronto has introduced a subsidy program to assist the owners of single-family, duplex, and triplex residential homes with a financial subsidy of up to $3,400 per property to install sewer backup mitigation devices such as a backwater valve, a sump pump, and pipe severance and capping of the home’s storm sewer or external weeping tile connection.
For further information on the City of Toronto’s Basement Flooding Protection Subsidy Program, please visit the following page:
Whether this program applies to you or not, we here at Cade would like to respectfully encourage you to consider mitigation measures for water losses. If you would like to discuss some of the benefits or the insurance implications of such installations, please do not hesitate to contact our office.