If you live in a rural area or have land you are probably familiar with septic systems, you may even have one. This is a system that captures and disposes of water from toilets, showers, sinks, etc. As a homeowner, you are responsible for maintaining septic pipes and tanks on your property. If your septic system stops working properly, this can be quite expensive. This usually triggers a call to your insurance agent to find out if septic problems would be covered under your house insurance policy.
Unfortunately, your typical homeowner’s insurance policy would not provide you with coverage for your septic system unless a covered loss such as fire also caused damage to the septic system. Common home policies do not provide coverage for pipes and tanks that are considered to be outside of the home. These are not structurally part of your home, so they can be thought of as features of the property. Your home insurance may have a rider/endorsement that you can add on for additional coverage, but this will depend on which company you are with and what they have to offer.
It is also important to note that most home insurance policies do not cover wear and tear. The loss must be something that is sudden and accidental on their covered perils list. This also goes for roofing and other plumbing.
