Burst Sprinkler Line, Property Damage, and Renter’s Insurance

admin February 24, 2015 Insurance

A week ago today I was in Phoenix. I had been there for a few days, and I had been planning to spend a month with my girlfriend away from the cold New Jersey weather. It wasn’t a vacation. We each needed to continue working, but figured we might as well do so where the weather was nice.

Early in the morning, I got a frantic call from my apartment complex’s superintendent. “Where are you?”

Groggily, I stated I was out of town and asked what was going on. “We have a major problem.” The sprinkler line in my apartment building froze and burst, dumping cold water, ceiling debris, and insulation into my kitchen. The unit below me was in worse condition, and their basement’s ceiling collapsed.

I ensured the super was aware that I recognized the seriousness, and with some trouble (a different story), I got on a flight back to New Jersey that got me to the apartment later that night. After hanging up with the super, I did two things.

First, I called my insurance company to let them know about the situation. Second, because I knew I probably wouldn’t be able to see the apartment myself until late in the evening, I asked a friend to stop by and assess the damage, taking some photographs. Thankfully, he was available and able to help out.

The insurance company requested that the apartment maintenance staff not remove anything, and I relayed that message to the super, but I didn’t expect them to comply as safety was their primary concern.

By the time I landed and a car dropped me off at my apartment, it was twelve hours after the initial call. The damage in the kitchen was very bad. The carpets throughout my unit were soaked. All in all, however, much of my personal property was fine. The neighbors downstairs were not as lucky.

The landlord determined the best way to deal with the mess would be for me to move all of my belongings out of my apartment so they could begin the repairs immediately. I asked for and received recommendations for moving companies and by the end of the week had a storage facility located, a moving company booked, and the insurance company agreeing to pick up the bills.

The pack-out and move-out lasted several hours yesterday as the temperature plummeted from thirty degrees to zero. But now I’m still waiting for communication with the landlord to determine when the work will start, how long it will take, and how they intend on discounting my rent for the period of time during which my apartment building is uninhabitable.

The damage to my items is generally isolated in the kitchen and the dining room, and my dining room is relatively empty because I converted it to a photography studio.

Liberty Mutual, the insurance company that covers my automobile insurance, renter’s insurance, and umbrella insurance, offered me two options. I could receive a check to cover the depreciated value of my damaged items, with a later reimbursement once I replace those items, or I could use Liberty Mutual’s service for replacing those items, where a company that partners with the insurer seeks out replacements for each of the items and sends it directly to any location I want, thereby avoiding issuing a check to me.

I chose option number one, as my current living situation might not require immediate replacement of everything and I plan spending time away from my apartment.

The insurance company also offered to pay for a hotel, but one of my friends offered up some space in his home. Liberty Mutual will also pay for living expenses, like food, that are above and beyond what I would be spending normally, while I’m out of my apartment.

Communication with Liberty Mutual has been a little difficult, but part of the problem is that the similar problems have occurred in homes across the Northeast region of the United States, and insurance companies are busy dealing with a large number of claims. In my apartment complex alone, a day or two after my incident, there was another burst pipe that flooded a different building. There is obviously insufficient protection during cold weather.

My landlord also hasn’t been very communicative. The super has been nice, but all I know about the repairs is that they expect it to take a week. I think the repairs, including fixing any water damage, replacing the carpets and wood floors, ceilings, walls, and kitchen appliances might need more like a month.

Renter’s insurance is inexpensive, but I’m thankful to have it. I would really love for this incident to be over so I can get back to Phoenix — and get back to life, to work, and to warm weather. After last year’s winter in New Jersey, my plan was to avoid as much of it as possible. And on one of the coldest days, I was brought back, and I’ve been too busy taking care of the emergency to be able to write some articles for Consumerism Commentary.

I can’t complain too much. As I’ve mentioned, with friends, insurance, money available for emergencies, and perhaps some luck, this incident hasn’t been nearly as bad as it could have been. I do feel bad for my neighbors who experienced much more damage and disruption in their lives.

One observation this event has allowed me to make pertains to my accumulation of stuff. Over the past decade, I’ve lived in just two apartments. Prior to that, in the six years after graduating college with a bachelor’s degree, I lived in at least seven different places. While moving around, there was never a big opportunity to settle in and accumulate stuff. That has changed over the past decade.

There’s a lot of items I could get rid of, things I don’t necessarily need in order to live a happy life. But I don’t subscribe completely to the idea of minimalism. Just because all I need to live are a few items, that doesn’t mean that I should limit my life to the bare necessities.

Keep in mind that my living needs are different than many readers. I am an unmarried individual without children. I have no family to support. Thankfully, no one is affected by the flooding in my apartment other than me (and my neighbor downstairs). If my family were displaced by an event like this, the situation would be very different.

With good insurance coverage and a landlord that doesn’t try to weasel out of responsibilities (at least so far), I can be confident that I can return to a great place to live.

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