Water damage (escape of water)
The most frequent home insurance claim, caused by a leak, overflow or seepage; settlement between insurers is organized by a convention that designates a single handler according to the amount.
Water damage is the most common home insurance claim: a burst pipe, an appliance overflowing, a failed seal, seepage through a roof or facade. It is rarely spectacular, but its frequency makes it one of the main cost items for household and building insurers. Policies generally cover damage caused by water and the cost of tracing the leak, and exclude seepage due to clear lack of maintenance, damp and condensation, or slow leaks the insured knew about. Handling is complicated by building layouts: water from one apartment often damages the one below, common parts, or several homes belonging to owners insured with different insurers. To avoid cross-recourse on every claim, French insurers apply a convention, known as IRSI since 2018, which designates a managing insurer by location and amount of damage, and organizes or waives recourse by bands. Water damage is also a ground for fraud and overstatement, and a revealer of the aging housing stock. Prevention is progressing through connected leak detectors, which some insurers subsidize.
Textbook case, under the IRSI inter-insurer convention, in force in France since June 1, 2018: a pipe bursts in a third-floor apartment, damaging it and the apartments on the second and first floors. Under this convention, each occupant's insurer pays its own damage in the first band, with no recourse against the third-floor occupant's insurer.
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