03 October 2024
Escape of water and your home insurance
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.
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What causes a water damage claim?
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?
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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.
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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