what is covered on house insurance

Jackie69

Event:
Roof leaking from valley between next door (semi-detached house).
Its a near flat valley.
Damp marks on ceiling in bedroom below.

Question:
Is this above normally covered by house insurance?

Would it be excluded because of wear and tear or
lack of maintenance?

Thanks in advance

Aretnap

Home insurance is usually defined in terms of what it does cover rather than what it doesn't cover. So your policy documents will have a numbet of sections explaining the different events ("perils", to use the jargon) which you can claim for. It will be along the lines of fire, flood, storm, subsidence etc, and if you want to claim you have to be able to say which peril caused the damage you are claiming for. The only one which might plausibly cover a leaking roof would be storm damage - and that would mean you would have to tie the damage to a specific storm, rather than it being an issue which has developed over a long period.

Wear and tear and routine maintenance are not usually covered by insurance - they are just part of the joy of being a homeowner.

tl;dr - it's probably not covered I'm afraid.

Sea_Shell

Another phrase to look out for in the exclusions is "gradually operating cause", which, unfortunately it sounds like this is.