Sewer drain leak, water damage. What to do now about insurance claim?
Hi all, I just discovered this site when researching how to handle my current situation, looks like a great resource! I'll post in the new member forum, but in the mean time, I am looking for some advice about our immediate situation.
Our property manager for a fourplex we own in another state (AZ) got calls from 2 tenants that their toilets were backed up and there was water coming down through the ceiling below the toilets. Plumber found that it looks like our toilets' closet flanges failed and there was a clog in the drain line that the toilets share (the units back to each other and share a drain line in the wall). Long story short, we've had a company come out to dry things out and treat mold found in there, and are having a restoration company come remove damaged material (gyp tested positive for asbestos, great). Kitchen cabinets (kitchens are below the bathrooms) absorbed some of the water, so they need to be rebuilt or replaced. Plumber replaced the closet flanges and broken drain lines and cleared out the main drain line. Looking at probably $20k-$30k in total expense here.
Filed a claim with our insurance (commercial policy), and initially, the adjuster said we aren't covered for sewer back up, so she was gonna deny the claim. I then talked to our insurance agent, and he said he thought we would have been covered because there's a line in our policy about water/liquid damage, and they'd revamped their policies to include sewer back up. So, now they're in the process of trying to "reconstruct" our policy to include the coverage (agent said that it may have been his mistake not including it originally), and we'd just owe the difference in premium, if any.
What I'm wondering now is:
- If they still deny us coverage after this attempt to "reconstruct" our policy, what are our next options? Ask for a second opinion with a different adjuster? Get a public adjuster? Lawyer? Give up and pay for it ourselves?
- I'm not sure if all the damage is necessarily due to sewer back up, as there may have been a long, slow leak (hence the mold) that only turned into a big leak when the sewer backed up.I found something in our policy about "fungi, wet rot, dry rot" coverage, so if they deny for sewer back up, should I pursue this type of coverage?
- This is our first claim on a rental property. About 2.5 years ago, we had a claim on our house policy (different insurance company) when a neighbor tried to claim our cat injured her cat and beagle (yes, our CAT). That claim got denied after I showed our insurance company that there was another cat that looked like ours on our street (I also requested that they deny her claim). Also had a car claim 1.5 years ago when my car got totaled by someone else (I was not at fault). So, will having this new claim make insurance harder to get, or premiums go higher?
- What else do I need to know?
Sorry this is so long, this is all new to me. Thanks in advance.