Does home insurance cover mould?

Mould is one of the many grey (in some cases green or black) areas of home insurance that, if not taken care of early, can cause irreversible damage to walls and linger beneath your carpet.

Unfortunately, mould is not covered by home insurance in most cases. That’s because the damage caused by mould is considered preventable. 

That being said, there are some cases where your home insurance covers mould. 

If you've ever had to make a home insurance claim for storm or flood damage, then your insurance provider may consider mould growth to be an ongoing consequence of that claim.

So, it's only really in special cases that mould is covered by home insurance.

It largely depends on your home insurance provider’s treatment of mould damage. Always check your policy’s product disclosure statement (PDS) to see if there are any general exclusions that might disqualify a claim for mould.

1. Contact your home insurance provider 

As soon as something happens in your home that you think may be covered under your home insurance policy, contact your policy provider. Their contact info can be found on their website, or in the relevant PDS.

If your home is damaged and your policy covers you for it, contact your home insurance provider as soon as possible. 

Their contact info can usually be found online, or in your policy's PDS.

2. If mould starts to grow in connection with your claim, you'll need to prove the link 

Say, if you've made a claim for storm damage to your roof in the past, and mould has suddenly started to grow on your ceiling, your next step will be to prove that the two events are connected. 

You might need an expert opinion, but your home insurance provider should be able to point you in the right direction. 

3. Once proved, contact your policy provider to finalise your claim

Once you have received the expert’s opinion, you can show that to your insurance provider. If they believe the mould resulted from an insured event, then it should be considered damage. That is, if your policy even covers mould at all. 

If you’d like to find out if your home insurance policy cover mould, you could call up your provider and seek clarification, or have a read through the product disclosure statement (PDS), keeping an eye out for any general exclusions to do with mould.

Looking for a new home insurance policy? Compare home insurance with Mozo to see if there's a policy out there that fits the needs of you and your home. Start by checking out some of the policies in the Mozo database below, or take a look at the award-winning home insurance policies on our best home insurance page.