03 October 2024

Escape of water and your home insurance

By Steve Moores Dip CII, Client Director

3 minutes

The cost of a water leak at home, whether gradual or sudden, is a major problem for UK homeowners and insurers, with escape of water claims accounting for around 30% of all UK insurers’ claims costs1. As it’s such an issue, many insurers impose an additional excess for escape of water claims, on top of the standard excess.

What causes a water damage claim?

  • Burst pipes caused by freezing conditions
  • Failed connections in pipework, whether sudden or gradual.
  • Poor quality, corroded or aged pipework
  • Failure of ball valves to tanks and cisterns
  • Failure of water apparatus, including dishwashers, washing machines, their inlets and waste pipes
  • Overflowing basins, sinks and baths including where taps have been left running, though this is usually classed as Accidental Damage rather than Escape of Water

The term “escape of water” should not be confused with flooding, which is usually caused by an external source.

What can you do to lessen the risk of water damage?

  • Fit a water leak detector
  • Insulate your pipes in the attic space, outside taps and in garages, as well as external pipes.
  • If you have a condensing boiler, ensure that the condensation pipe (that takes the waste water from the boiler) is properly insulated. If it freezes, the boiler will stop working.
  • Fix dripping taps and showers. Small leaks can become larger problems later.
  • Ensure the heating is kept on over winter, especially if you are away. If you’re away for an extended period of time, consider turning off the water at the stopcock.
  • Maintain your boiler and central heating system. This will also speed up the claims process if you do need to make a claim.

Prevention is better than cure and more than one escape of water claim in five years may make it difficult to find home insurance. Even a single recent claim may make it difficult to move insurers, which can be doubly difficult after a claim if you’re unhappy with the insurer’s handling of it. To find out more, read our article: Is your claims history affecting your home insurance.

What home insurance cover do I need?

  • If possible, ensure you have one policy to cover both your buildings and contents, as water damage usually affects them both. With a separate building and a separate contents policy, you’ll be paying two excesses and dealing with two insurers and two loss adjusters – and have two excesses to pay.
  • Check that your alternative accommodation cover is enough to pay for a similar property in your local area for as long as the repairs will take. Remember that rebuild costs have increased and repairs may take longer due to the higher demand and lower supply caused by Covid-19 and Brexit. Check online for local rental prices and compare this to your insurance cover. If your property is listed, repairs may take longer, so take this into consideration.
  • Good policies will have “Trace and Access” cover. This pays for the cost of finding a leak (though not always the cost of repairing it). Cheaper policies limit Trace and Access cover inside the home. Consider your home….if you have several bathrooms, underfloor heating, wet rooms or air conditioning, then the cost of locating a leak may be high, in which case you may benefit from a mid net worth or high net worth insurance policy.
  • Check your policy wording and schedule. Many policies require that you keep your home maintained to a minimum temperature in the winter months. If you are away for more than 30 days, are you insured?
    Check your escape of water excess.
  • Consider Home Emergency Cover. If you have a leak, you can call your insurer’s claims line and get the details of an available plumber who may be able to come around and quickly fix it. This limits the damage and may mean that you don’t need to deal with a major repair or claim on your home insurance policy.
  • Use an insurance broker and check that they have a separate, active claims team that will look after you in the event of a claim. Severe water damage may take weeks to dry out and months to repair. An effective broker will fight your corner and negotiate with insurers. It’s just one of the many benefits of using a broker. For more benefits, read our article: Why you need a broker for your home insurance.

Source

  1. https://www.insurancetimes.co.uk/news/household-water-leak-claims-up-by-more-than-30-for-q1-2021/1438386.article

Next steps

If you’d like our help navigating your way around water-related home insurance issues, please call 020 8256 4908 or email privateclients@howdeninsurance.co.uk


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