Plumbing Emergencies and Insurance: How to Claim
Make safe, document everything, and understand what home insurance usually covers.
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THE SHORT ANSWER
In short
Make it safe first, then contact your insurer as soon as you can. Home policies usually cover damage from a sudden escape of water, such as a burst pipe, but not the pipe itself, and often not gradual leaks, leaking showers or wear and tear. Photograph everything before you clean up, talk to your insurer before authorising building work, and keep every invoice and report. Under the General Insurance Code of Practice, insurers must usually give you a decision within 4 months of a claim.
FIRST
Make safe, then call your insurer
- Stop the water and make the site safe.
- Contact your insurer as soon as you can, even before you know the full damage; some policies set time limits for lodging a claim, and delays can affect it.
- Talk to your insurer before you authorise building work, including emergency repairs, and ask for approval in writing (Insurance Council of Australia).
- If water reached the electrics, don’t turn the power back on until an electrician checks it.
- Read your policy before you ring and list your questions: your excess, temporary accommodation, and whether you can use your own repairer or take a cash settlement (Moneysmart).
WHAT’S USUALLY COVERED
What escape of liquid usually covers
| Usually covered | Usually not covered |
|---|---|
| Damage from a sudden burst or leak from fixed pipes, tanks, appliances, sinks and baths | Repairing or replacing the pipe or part that failed |
| Some policies: the cost of finding a hidden leak, often with the insurer’s agreement first | Gradual leaks you could reasonably have noticed, such as a leaking shower |
| Rust, corrosion, mould, and wear and tear |
Wording differs by insurer: CHOICE compares policies; one insurer’s cover for finding leaks: Suncorp. Your Product Disclosure Statement decides.
General information only, not legal or insurance advice: your lease, by-laws or policy decide. Checked 1 November 2026.
COMMON CLAIMS
How common plumbing claims usually play out
| What happened | The water damage | The part that failed |
|---|---|---|
| A flexi hose bursts under the vanity | Usually covered as a sudden escape: floors, cabinets, the ceiling below | Usually not covered: the hose is yours to replace |
| The hot water tank splits | Usually covered | Usually not covered: the new tank is yours, or the landlord’s |
| A pipe inside a wall drips for months unseen | Depends on the insurer: some cover hidden leaks you could not reasonably have known about; CHOICE found about one in five exclude gradual leaks | Not covered |
| A shower leaks through failed waterproofing | Generally excluded | Not covered |
| A stormwater drain overflows in heavy rain | Usually under storm cover, not flood | Clearing the drain is usually not covered |
| Sewage overflows from Sydney Water’s pipes | Sydney Water arranges the clean-up and repairs to your property | Sydney Water’s to fix |
From CHOICE, Budget Direct, Moneysmart and Sydney Water. Check your own policy.
FINDING THE LEAK
Who pays to find a hidden leak?
It varies. Budget Direct says that once a claim is accepted it pays the reasonable costs to investigate the cause of the escape (Budget Direct). Suncorp offers optional exploratory cover for leaks that fall outside escape of liquid, with no excess, but pays no further exploratory costs if the source can be found without invasive work, such as with a thermal camera (Suncorp).
That is why finding the leak without opening walls matters. We use thermal imaging, acoustic listening, moisture readings and pressure testing to locate it first, so only the right spot is opened, and the report shows the insurer exactly where and why.
Half of our 126 priced leak detection jobs since 2019 cost between $463 and $1,593, including GST, with a median of $825.
WHICH POLICY?
Building, contents, strata, landlord or business policy?
| Policy | Usually responds to |
|---|---|
| Home building (the owner) | The fixed parts of the home: floors, walls, ceilings, built-in cabinets |
| Contents (owner or tenant) | Belongings: rugs, furniture, clothes and electronics. Tenants need their own. |
| Strata building (the owners corporation) | The building and common property. The contents of each lot are not the owners corporation’s responsibility. |
| Landlord | The building or the landlord’s contents, depending on the policy and the property |
| Business | Fit-out, stock and equipment, and lost income if business interruption is included |
General guide: Moneysmart: contents insurance; NSW Government: strata insurance. Your policy decides.
STORM OR FLOOD?
Storm water or flood: why it matters
In a policy, flood means water escaping from a lake, river, creek, reservoir, canal or dam. Storm cover usually includes rain run-off and overflowing stormwater drains. Flood cover may be excluded for high-risk homes (Moneysmart).
DOCUMENT EVERYTHING
Document everything
- Photos and video of the damage before you move or clean anything
- Keep damaged items until the assessor says otherwise, unless they are a health risk
- Every invoice, receipt and plumber’s report
- A note of every call to your insurer: date, time, who you spoke to
What we give you: a written report of the cause and whether the failure looked sudden, your invoice, photos, and CCTV footage for drains.
A useful plumber’s report says where the failure was, what failed and how, what the plumber saw that points to a sudden or a long-running leak, the readings or images used to find it, and what was repaired. It records what was found; it cannot decide cover, and an accurate report helps a claim more than a hopeful one.
ON THE FIRST CALL
Questions to ask your insurer
- Is this covered under escape of liquid, and is the part that failed excluded?
- What is my excess for this event?
- Can I choose my own plumber, or will you send one? Do you need to approve the repair first?
- Will you pay to find the leak, and do I need your approval before any wall or floor is opened?
- Is temporary accommodation covered if we cannot stay in the home?
- Should I keep the damaged items, and for how long?
- Who is the assessor, and when will they contact me?
- Can I have the scope of works in writing before repairs start?
YOUR REPAIRER
Your own plumber or the insurer’s?
Check whether your policy lets you choose your repairer. If the insurer selects and authorises a repairer, the insurer is responsible for the quality of that work (General Insurance Code of Practice). Insurers often send a make-safe contractor first (Moneysmart).
SETTLING THE CLAIM
Repairs, cash settlement and disputes
- For significant damage, the insurer may appoint a loss assessor and must tell you within 5 business days what the assessor’s role is.
- Check the written scope of works: what will and will not be repaired, the materials, and anything you must pay for first.
- Insurer-managed repairs: the insurer organises the trades and is responsible for the contractors it authorises. Cash settlement: you manage the trades yourself, and the excess comes off the payment. Some claims use both.
- If any part of a claim is declined, the insurer must tell you in writing which part and why, and you can ask for the reports it relied on.
- In financial hardship, ask about an advance payment or deferring your excess.
TIMELINE
How long a claim takes
- Within 10 business days of your claim: the insurer tells you what it needs, and appoints an assessor if needed
- Updates at least every 20 business days
- A decision within 10 business days of having everything it needs, and within 4 months of your claim in most cases
- Complaints: a decision within 30 calendar days; then the Australian Financial Complaints Authority, AFCA, on 1800 931 678
From the General Insurance Code of Practice. A strengthened Code was submitted to ASIC on 22 October 2026, so timeframes may change.
QUESTIONS
Insurance questions
MORE HELP
Emergency help
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