In 15 years across 9 properties I have filed 7 fire-insurance claims, and not one of them was for a fire. The payouts totaled about 1.6 million yen, against premiums that have risen from roughly 180,000 yen a year for the whole portfolio in 2011 to about 320,000 yen now. Fire insurance in Japan is really a bundle of riders, and knowing which ones earn their keep has shaped how I write every policy renewal.
The 7 claims, and what each returned
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- Wind damage: a typhoon peeled the ridge cap off a roof. Repair was 410,000 yen, the payout was 380,000 with a zero deductible on that policy.
- Wind damage: a wind-thrown branch cracked a polycarbonate carport panel. Paid 65,000 yen.
- Water-supply damage: a washing machine supply hose on the second floor split while the tenant was out, soaking the first-floor ceiling. Paid 540,000 yen for ceiling, flooring, and drying.
- Rent-loss rider, tied to that same flood: the downstairs tenant had to move out for 2 months. Paid 160,000 yen, which I passed straight through.
- Electrical and mechanical breakdown: a power surge killed an intercom control board. Paid 48,000 yen.
- Electrical and mechanical breakdown: the pump motor on a rooftop water tank burned out. Paid 130,000 yen.
- Accidental breakage: a ladder cracked a window pane during exterior work. Paid 28,000 yen.
The washing-machine flood, in detail
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This was the claim that taught me the most. The supply hose to an upstairs washer had been on the same rubber fitting for probably 12 years and it let go at the crimp on a weekday afternoon. Water ran for hours before a downstairs tenant noticed the ceiling bulging. I photographed everything before touching it, including the failed hose, called a restoration contractor for a written estimate rather than guessing, and filed within a week. The insurer paid the ceiling, the first-floor flooring, and three days of industrial drying fans, 540,000 yen, plus 160,000 under the rent-loss rider for the two months the downstairs unit was uninhabitable. Since then I replace every washer hose on a fixed 5-year cycle across all 9 buildings; a braided stainless hose costs 1,200 yen and I am not doing that claim again.
The riders that did the heavy lifting
Two categories account for most of that 1.6 million: wind, hail, and snow damage, and water-supply damage from plumbing. If I could only keep two riders beyond the base cover, those are the two. The electrical and mechanical breakdown rider surprised me; it costs little and it has paid out twice for equipment failures I would otherwise have absorbed. The rent-loss rider costs me only about 2,000 to 4,000 yen a year per building and returned 160,000 yen in one claim.
What fire insurance never pays for
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- Gradual leaks and anything the adjuster can call age deterioration. A pipe that has been weeping for a year is not a sudden accident.
- Termite damage.
- Condensation mold.
- Anything where you cannot say roughly when and how it happened.
How I handle a claim now
The pattern that gets claims paid: photograph the damage immediately and widely, before any cleanup. Report it to the insurer within days even though the formal filing window is usually 3 years. Get a written contractor estimate rather than a guess, because the adjuster works from documents. And describe the cause as a specific event with a date, not a vague condition. In my experience a claim filed cleanly this way settles in about 3 to 6 weeks; a vague one gets an adjuster visit and a partial offer.
Why premiums keep climbing. My portfolio premium has nearly doubled in 15 years, and it is not just my claims. Japan has had a run of severe typhoons and floods, and the industry has repriced accordingly. The maximum policy term has also shrunk from 10 years to 5, so the old trick of locking a long cheap policy is gone. I now re-shop the whole portfolio at every renewal, compare at least two insurers, and treat the premium as a live cost to manage rather than a fixed one.
The rider I dropped, and the one I added. I used to carry flood cover, the suisai rider, on all 9 buildings out of habit. When premiums jumped I actually checked the hazard maps and found that 6 of my buildings sit outside any projected inundation zone and above the local flood history. I dropped flood cover on those 6, which saved about 40,000 yen a year across the portfolio, and kept it on the 3 that genuinely sit in low ground near a river. The rider I added instead was the rent-loss rider on every building, because the washing-machine flood showed me that the lost rent during a repair can be larger than the repair itself.
Deductible and rider choices for older buildings
On my buildings past 25 years I keep the deductible at 30,000 yen, not the 100,000 that lowers the premium, because those are the buildings that actually generate claims and a 100,000 deductible would have wiped out two of my seven payouts. I also carry a facility liability rider on every building for the case where something falling off my property injures someone, which costs very little and covers a genuinely frightening risk. Seven claims, zero fires, 1.6 million yen back. Fire insurance is misnamed; treat it as wind, water, and breakdown cover and choose the riders accordingly. That is how I write every policy across all 9 properties, and I re-read the whole schedule at every renewal instead of signing where the agent points.
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