25% of Quebec homeowners ran into unexpected issues after buying

One-quarter of Quebec homeowners say they experienced considerable issues within the first five years of purchasing their homes, finds a survey by Leger, conducted on behalf of Allstate Insurance Company of Canada. This indicates that homebuyers may be misinformed when it comes to what to look for and ask about while shopping for a new property. Of those, 7% faced damages between $1,500 and $5,000 and 5% ran into damages exceeding $10,000 in repairs, according to the survey.

“Regardless of whether you’re shopping for a new home or renovating your current property, assessing the home and its surroundings for potential issues is important,” says Andre Parra, regional claims director at Allstate Insurance Company of Canada. “Being aware of what to look out for will help you properly prepare and potentially fix pre-existing problems before they become bigger, more costly issues.”

Lessons learned
In Quebec, 40% say they’d do things differently if they could redo their home-buying experience. Among them, 18% would hire a building inspector or be more cautious when looking for potential damages or risk factors (17%).

Before buying their property, nearly half of Quebec homeowners (45%) looked for information or inquired on their own about the risks of sewer backup or water infiltration.

Here are some additional findings.

• 35% verified if the property is located in a flood zone, near a large body of freshwater or a former swampy ground.
• 32% inquired about previous damage or insurance claims on their property as a result of flooding or fire.
• 26% inquired if there had ever been any complaints, class actions or lawsuits against the contractor who built their property.
• 20% researched how their property could be impacted by urban development around it.

Which areas should be inspected?
The most frequent and costly home insurance claim are due to water damage, followed by damage caused by wind or hail, with fire-related claims landing in third place.

In fact, water damage now accounts for the most frequent and costly home insurance claims in Quebec. Water claims due to burst pipes are the most frequent (34%) according to Allstate data, followed by toilet and shower leaks (25%). Other sources of water damage come from washing machine leak (7%) and hot water tank leak (7%). The main impact of wind and hail related damage (nearly half of the claims) is water infiltration through the roof (47%), followed by falling shingles or siding (23%).

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This story was originally published by Canadian Insurance Top Broker.