The Green Deal and your home insurance

As the Government announces long-term loans to homeowners in a bid to make their properties more energy efficient, Jonathan Cracknell, household underwriting manager at Aviva, gives some hints and tips on Green homes and your home insurance cover.

"Aviva home insurance will automatically cover solar panels as part of its standard buildings policy. Customers just need make sure they include the value of the Solar Panels in the overall sum insured. If solar panels are shared between properties, they are still covered, but if they are damaged we will only pay the customer's proportion of the claim.

"The principle is the same for wind turbines on roofs or in the garden, they would be considered part of the buildings of the property"

Loft Insulation/Cavity Wall/Double Glazing

"Anything that increases the resilience of your home from the outside elements is to be welcomed especially considering our recent weather! So while extra insulation or double glazing won't have any direct impact on your home insurance premiums it could protect your home from the potential of damp or rot - which are not generally covered by home insurance and something like a new boiler will again minimise the potential of an older boiler malfunctioning and causing water damage."

‘Green' Construction

"Occasionally we see Eco-friendly constructed homes, most often ‘Green' or ‘Turf' Roofs (e.g. Sedum).  We are happy to insure these properties, we would just need to understand a bit more about their type of construction and materials used so we can assess their individual risk. And again "green" roofs as well as offering good insulation benefits are low maintenance and  generally more resilient to storm damage and heavy rain."