Insurance is the one preparedness measure most households already have and almost none have read. That matters, because the difference between a policy that pays and one that does not is usually a condition somebody agreed to without noticing.
Half an hour with the policy schedule is worth more than most of the equipment in this app, and it is free.
Read the schedule, not the advert
The schedule is the document that says what you actually bought: the sums insured, the excesses, the optional covers you did or did not take, and the specified items.
Find and check these six things:
Then check what is optional and whether you took it: accidental damage, home emergency, legal expenses, personal possessions away from the home, bicycles, and cover for anything you work with.
The exclusions that catch people
These are standard across most policies and they surprise people at the worst moment.
- Wear and tear, gradual deterioration and lack of maintenance. A roof that has been leaking slowly for two years is a maintenance problem, not an insured event. See stop a roof leak.
- Gradual escape of water. A sudden burst is covered; a slow seep that has rotted a floor over months frequently is not.
- Frost damage to pipes in an unheated property, which is where the empty-house conditions bite.
- Faulty workmanship or design.
- Damage caused by pests, including rodents and insects.
- Anything happening while the property is unoccupied beyond the stated period.
- Items above the single article limit that were never specified.
- Business use of the home, including stock and equipment, unless declared.
- Anything you have not told them about: a change of use, a lodger, a home business, a claim history, an unspent conviction. Non-disclosure is the surest way to have a claim declined.
Tell them about material changes. A loft conversion, a lodger, a new roof, a business run from the kitchen table, or leaving the property empty for a stretch. The conversation takes ten minutes and it keeps the cover valid.
Buildings and contents
Buildings is the structure: walls, roof, floors, fitted kitchen and bathroom, and usually outbuildings and boundary walls, though those are frequently limited.
Contents is everything that would fall out if you turned the house upside down.
The buildings sum insured should be the rebuild cost, which is not the market value and is often quite different. Rebuild cost calculators exist and are worth using rather than guessing.
The contents sum insured is almost always too low, because people estimate what they would grab rather than what it would cost to replace everything: every item of clothing, all the bedding, the kitchen contents, the tools, the garden equipment, the children's things.
Go room by room with a notebook. Most people are surprised by a factor of two.
Specify the valuable items. Anything above the single article limit, typically jewellery, watches, art, musical instruments, bicycles and specialist equipment, must be listed individually or it is not covered for its value. Keep receipts, photographs and valuations with the document file. See what documents to hold.
Flood
The exclusion that matters most to this app, because flooding is the likeliest severe event for many UK households.
- Check whether you are covered for flood at all, and at what excess. Some policies exclude it, and some carry a flood excess of thousands.
- Flood Re is a reinsurance scheme designed to keep flood cover available and affordable for eligible homes. It does not cover everything: notably, homes built after 2009 are generally excluded, as are some property types.
- Check your flood risk on the official map for your nation, and note that surface water flooding is the commonest kind and the one people do not expect.
- Resilient repair. Some insurers will contribute to repairing a flooded property in a way that makes the next flood cheaper: tiled floors, raised sockets, removable panels. Ask, because it is not always offered.
- Read flood-proofing a doorway, which is honest about what barriers do and do not achieve.
Empty properties
Most policies restrict cover once a property has been unoccupied for a stated period, commonly around 30 days. After that, cover for escape of water, theft and malicious damage is often reduced or withdrawn entirely.
Many also impose winter conditions: the water turned off and the system drained, or the heating maintained at a minimum temperature.
This matters if you leave, whether for a long trip, a hospital stay, or because the house has become unusable. See securing a property you are leaving, which covers the practical side.
Tell the insurer. It is usually straightforward and it is what keeps the policy valid.
Underinsurance
The quiet problem that reduces a settlement without anybody mentioning it at the time.
If the sum insured is materially below the true value, an insurer may reduce a claim proportionately. Insure for half of what you own and a claim for a single stolen laptop can be settled at half, not just claims for the whole house.
- Review the sums insured annually, and after anything significant changes.
- Index linking helps and does not catch up with a new kitchen or an inherited collection.
- Rebuild costs have risen substantially in recent years, so a buildings figure set five years ago is likely to be low.
The evidence a claim needs
Gather this before anything happens, because afterwards it is difficult or impossible.
- A video walk through the house, room by room, opening cupboards and drawers. Ten minutes, and it is the single most useful thing you can do.
- Photographs of anything valuable, including serial numbers.
- Receipts, valuations and certificates for specified items.
- A written inventory, at least of the significant things.
- Store it off site. A record kept only in the house burns with the house. See digitising and backing up records.
After an incident, photograph everything before you clear up, and keep damaged items until the insurer has said you can dispose of them.
Making a claim
- Ring the emergency number promptly. Many policies require prompt notification, and delay can be a reason to reduce or decline.
- Keep a log: who you spoke to, when, what was agreed, reference numbers.
- Do what is reasonable to prevent further damage, which is a condition of most policies. Turn the water off, tarp the roof, board the window. Keep the receipts for that too, because it is often recoverable.
- Do not commission major repairs before the insurer has agreed, unless it is genuinely urgent.
- Keep all correspondence.
- If you disagree, use the insurer's complaints process first, then the Financial Ombudsman Service, which is free to the consumer and genuinely useful.
The policy number and the emergency claims line belong on the household index sheet and in the go-bag, because you will be ringing them from somewhere that is not your desk.
The annual half hour
Do this once a year, alongside the smoke alarms and the drills. See practising, and a household drill programme.
- Read the schedule. Check the six numbers above.
- Check the sums insured are still realistic.
- Check what has changed: extensions, valuables, a lodger, a business, time spent away.
- Check flood and accidental damage are what you thought.
- Update the video inventory.
- Confirm the off-site copy is current.
- Shop around, because loyalty is generally not rewarded and the market moves.