Aging roofs, rising claims and severe weather are changing Canadian home insurance.
Your roof might look perfectly fine to you, but to your insurance company, subtle signs could be signalling a severe risk. Some Canadian homeowners are learning the hard way that an aging roof can put their home insurance coverage in jeopardy.
Insurers are paying closer attention to the age and condition of residential roofs, and some homeowners are being told they need to replace their aging roof to maintain home insurance coverage.
What’s causing this shift? Why are insurance companies requiring roof replacements?
Your roof is your home's first line of defence
Your roof protects your entire home from the elements, and once it starts to fail, it leaves your property vulnerable to interior water damage. Unfortunately, it doesn’t take long for an innocuous issue to grow into an expensive problem requiring major reparative construction.
Because of this, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC), insurers want home roofs to be updated within 20 years of installation or renovation.
Climate experts predict that extreme weather events will continue to occur more frequently and with more severity than past years. Those trends put sustained pressure on insurers and homeowners through higher claims costs and, as a result, increasing premiums. Hence, insurers are becoming more cautious about home properties with older roofs.
Insurance can’t replace a maintenance plan
Home insurance is designed primarily for a selection of unexpected events, not to pay for a roof that has reached the end of its useful life. Just because you have home insurance doesn’t mean you can skip regular roof maintenance or a replacement.
For this reason, home insurance doesn't cover predictable deterioration or maintenance, including the normal wear and tear of roof shingles. If an insurer determines that roof damage has occurred because of a lack of maintenance, your claim may, unfortunately, not be covered.
If your insurance provider does assert that your roof needs to be replaced, don't wait until the renewal deadline to start looking for a contractor. Work diligently to confirm your renovation requirements, get a professional assessment, and start getting quotes for the work to compare your options.
What are the consequences of not replacing your roof?
When the time comes to renew your home insurance, an insurer may decide that an aging roof represents too much risk to continue offering coverage under the existing terms.
In turn, you may be required to replace the roof, have an exclusion clause for certain roof-related losses, or even have difficulty obtaining coverage at renewal, depending on the company and policy.
For homeowners with a mortgage especially, losing insurance can grow from a headache to a full-blow migraine. While home insurance isn't technically required by law in Ontario, a mortgage agreement can require the borrower to maintain insurance on the property. Your lender will be notified of the change, and you may face penalties or be required to pay for force-placed insurance they obtain.
What should homeowners do?
If your roof is approaching the two-decade mark, it’s time to get proactive about maintenance to retain your insurance.
Reach out and ask your insurance broker or insurance company how the age and condition of your roof may affect coverage. Be ready to provide documentation proving when the roof was installed, maintained or replaced, and consider working with an experienced roofing professional to inspect it for further documentation.
Most importantly, take the time to ensure you understand exactly what your policy covers, what it excludes, and how claims are settled. Replacing an aging roof isn’t easy, or cheap, but, doing so before your home insurance becomes an issue could save you from bigger, more expensive issues down the line.