Are you insured for this winter’s storm damage?

With the rise in incidents of ‘extreme weather’ in the UK, householders need to be aware of the exclusions incorporated in buildings and contents policies, particularly with regard to storm damage and flooding, warns leading independent financial research company Defaqto.

Storm damage cover

While loss or damage caused by storm and flooding is standard under the vast majority of contents insurance policies, this does not usually extend to ‘contents in the open’, such as garden furniture, plants and trampolines, so you need to check this section of your contents policy to see the extent of your cover.

Almost all buildings insurance policies excludecover for storm or flood damage to fences, gates and hedges, with the exception of Marks and Spencer’s ‘Premier’ and Saga’s ‘Tailormade’ policies - the latter providing cover for gates and hedges only, and not fences.

Flooding

With extensive flooding in several parts of the UK this summer and thousands of homes rendered uninhabitable for months, if not years, homeowners are starting to realise the importance of having sufficient ‘alternative accommodation’ cover.

All buildings insurance policies provide a certain amount of cover for alternative accommodation, ranging from as little as ‘5 per cent of the buildings sum insured’, up to ‘unlimited’ or ‘reasonable cost’.

For example, if the sum assured were £100,000, then a sum of £5,000 to cover alternative accommodation for you and your family for an indefinite period, which could be up to 2 or 3 years, would certainly not be enough.

What about pets?

Almost half of policies do not include cover for alternative accommodation for your domestic pets, which could incur huge costs if you had to vacate your home for a long period.

Burst pipes

Most buildings insurance policies, with some exceptions such as Admiral and ASDA, provide cover for ‘frost damage’ or ‘damage caused by freezing to pipes’.

However, you need to look out for any ‘non occupancy’ clauses, whereby exclusions or restrictions are imposed if you leave the property unattended for more than a certain period of time - typically 30 days.

You also need to check whether you have cover for ‘escape of water from any fixed water apparatus or pipes’ under your contents policy in case your household possessions are damaged by leaking water.

Falling trees or branches, TV aerials and trampolines

High winds, or even tornadoes, as recently experienced in Luton, can cause trees, branches, TV aerials and trampolines to be dislodged and cause damage to your own, or other people’s, property.

The majority of policies will provide cover for such damage, but will often exclude the cost of removing such items, unless they have caused damage to your own or someone else’s property.

Fire, lightning and explosion

While these are standard perils under all policies, it is important to ensure that you have adequate cover, as such claims can often result in total loss.

Mel Gray, senior researcher at Defaqto says: “A lightning strike could set your property on fire, resulting in your home and all your possessions being destroyed. So it’s essential that people check that the sums insured under their buildings and contents policies are adequate to cover such a catastrophic event.”