A property sale would have transformed their lives, but N.S. family got an epic shock instead

As Sarah Ryall and her husband counted down the days before their rental property officially sold, the Lower Argyle, N.S., couple started to breathe a sigh of relief.

The couple had owned the Cole Harbour, N.S., home for almost two decades. With no pension plans or mutual funds between them, selling the rental property was a key piece of financial security that would allow Sarah Ryall to continue being a stay-at-home mom to their nine children. It would also allow husband Tanner Ryall to spend lots of time with the kids, who range in age from almost four to 20.

But on a Sunday morning in mid-February, Sarah Ryall got a call from a longtime friend who was managing the rental property before its sale.

"All I could hear was, 'Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!'" she recalled. "'There's water everywhere.'"

The horror of the moment was soon surpassed when the family learned that because of an insurance concept known as a change in material risk, it looked like they'd be on the hook for almost $100,000 in repair bills.

"To have this situation was just shocking, absolutely shocking," said Sarah Ryall.

When Ryall first learned of the damage to the home, friend and contractor Tom Arnold was on the other end of the phone call. When he arrived at the house, he noticed steam coming out from the crevices of the front door. Inside, he was met with a wall of steam and a pool of water on the floor.

"The steam that was in here … you couldn't see a thing," said Arnold.

Three copper water pipes that carry scalding water to the home's radiators had burst, causing water to leak and travel to wherever gravity would take it. But the hot water itself turned the home into a giant steam room.

The family's insurer, Co-operators, was called. Crews armed with dehumidifiers and vacuums were called in to mitigate the damage. The Ryalls were told that besides the thousands in dollars for the cleanup efforts, it was going to cost around $90,000 to repair the damage — and they soon learned their insurance wasn't going to cover it.

The Ryalls said the reason they were given was because the home had been vacant for more than five days.

In the eyes of insurers, Arnold's daily inspections, visits from tradespeople who did work such as painting the walls and installing new flooring in the basement, and frequent visits from real estate agents and potential homebuyers did not mean the home was occupied.

Amanda Dean, Atlantic vice-president for the Insurance Bureau of Canada, said it's important to notify insurers about any changes in material risk, be it a home renovation, an extended trip away or a home that's no longer occupied and on the market for sale.

She said insurers will discuss preventive measures the client can take to ensure there are no gaps in coverage should something go wrong.