Will Insurance Cover a Frozen Pipe in Your Rental?

If a pipe freezes and bursts in one of your rentals this winter, do not assume your insurance will pay for it. Most homeowner and landlord policies have a freeze exclusion: if the property sat unheated, or a vacant unit's water wasn't shut off and drained, the insurer can deny the whole claim. The repair itself is rarely the expensive part. The water damage that follows it is.

What Does a Standard Policy Actually Cover When a Pipe Freezes?

Most landlord and homeowner policies cover sudden water damage from a burst pipe, but only if you took reasonable steps to prevent the freeze in the first place. That usually means keeping the heat on at a minimum temperature, or draining the plumbing system if the unit sits vacant through a cold stretch. Skip either one, and the insurer has grounds to call the loss preventable instead of sudden.

This is the part most owners never read until they're filing a claim. The policy language is often buried in the exclusions section, worded as something like "loss caused by freezing of plumbing while the building is vacant, unoccupied, or under construction unless you have used reasonable care to maintain heat." Reasonable care is the whole fight.

Why Do Insurers Deny So Many Frozen Pipe Claims?

Insurers deny frozen pipe claims most often when they can show the property wasn't heated or the plumbing wasn't drained during a vacancy, because the freeze exclusion in most policies puts that burden on the owner, not the insurer.

Courts have generally sided with insurers when a freeze exclusion clearly applies and the policyholder took no steps to prevent it. That's why the "reasonable care" language matters so much: an owner who kept the thermostat running and can show it, even with a smart thermostat log or a maintenance visit record, has a real argument. An owner with an empty house and no documentation usually does not.

What Does Frozen Pipe Damage Actually Cost?

Frozen pipe damage runs into real money fast, and the numbers back that up: State Farm alone reported paying more than $628 million on over 20,000 freeze-related water damage claims between 2024 and mid-2025, averaging more than $30,000 per claim.

Zoom out past freeze claims specifically, and water damage overall is one of the most common and costly categories of homeowner insurance claims, running up a sizable share of all claims filed in recent years and averaging in the five figures per claim. A burst pipe inside a wall or under a slab can run for hours before anyone notices, soaking drywall, flooring, and insulation the whole time.

Which Rentals Are Most at Risk Going Into a West Texas Winter?

Vacant units and properties mid-turnover carry the most risk, because there's often no one checking on the thermostat or the water heater when a hard freeze hits.

West Texas makes this worse than it looks on paper. A Lubbock or Amarillo cold front can swing temperatures 40 or 50 degrees in a day, and plenty of homes here were built for heat, not for sustained hard freezes. Attics, garages, and exterior-wall plumbing that are fine most winters can freeze fast once the power flickers or a furnace quits during exactly the week you need it most. If you've got a unit sitting empty between residents right now, that is the one to check first.

How to Protect Your Rental and Your Coverage Before the First Freeze

A few basic steps before the first hard freeze protect both the property and your ability to actually collect on a claim if something still goes wrong. Keep the thermostat set no lower than 55 degrees in any unit, occupied or not, through the cold months. Insulate exposed pipes in attics, garages, and crawl spaces, and let faucets on exterior walls drip during a hard freeze warning. If a unit is vacant, shut off the water supply and drain the lines rather than just leaving the heat on and hoping. And document it: a dated photo of the thermostat, a work order from whoever checks vacant units, or a smart-thermostat app log is the difference between a covered claim and a denied one.

None of this is complicated, and all of it is cheaper than a denied claim. If you're not sure your current rental is set up to survive a hard freeze, or you want a second set of eyes on how your properties are protected going into winter, that is exactly the kind of thing worth a conversation before the weather turns, not after.

Frequently asked questions

Does homeowners insurance cover frozen pipes in a rental property?
Usually, but only if you took reasonable steps to prevent the freeze, like keeping the heat on or draining the plumbing in a vacant unit. Most policies have a freeze exclusion that denies the claim if the property sat unheated with no preventive action taken.

What is a freeze exclusion in an insurance policy?
It's a clause that lets the insurer deny a claim for freeze-related water damage if the property wasn't reasonably maintained, usually meaning heat wasn't kept on or pipes weren't drained during a vacancy. Check your own policy's exact wording, since it varies by carrier.

How cold does it have to get for pipes to freeze in a Texas rental?
Pipes can start freezing when temperatures stay at or below roughly 20 degrees Fahrenheit for several hours, especially in attics, garages, or exterior walls with little insulation. A fast-moving West Texas cold front can hit that mark even when the forecast looks mild the day before.

What should I do with a vacant rental before a hard freeze?
Shut off the water supply and drain the plumbing lines if the unit will sit empty through the cold stretch, or keep the heat running at a minimum of 55 degrees if you'd rather not shut water off. Either way, document what you did and when, in case you ever need to show an insurer you took reasonable care.