The driest six months for 80 years could mean a rise in insurance claims for subsidence.
Subsidence can spell trouble for homeowners, but it doesn't have to mean you can't get insurance. What should you do if your home develops a crack?
The fact that many parts of the UK have experienced such as dry spring and summer means more than worries over a shortage of water - it’s also likely to result in an increase in subsidence. Subsidence occurs when parts of a property move; often because the soil (usually clay) has shrunk and expanded. Just because your home develops a crack doesn’t mean it’s suffering from subsidence - in many cases the cracks may be harmless. However, that does not mean you should ignore them.
You don’t have to live in a castle to benefit from specialist high value insurance policies.
Competition among insurers is bringing high value insurance premiums down and they offer lots of extras.
It’s often the case that it’s only when you come to make a claim that you really find out how good or bad your insurance policy is. These days so many insurers compete on price that it’s tempting to go for the cheapest option without really checking exactly what you’re getting. High value or ‘high net worth’ policies aren’t for everyone: if you live in an average two or three-bedroom property and you don’t have a taste for antiques or other valuables, you’ll probably find a high value policy is a bit of a waste of money. But for those who live in expensive properties or who have valuable possessions, they’re definitely worth considering.
A national flood charity is criticising some insurers for hiking premiums and excess levels.
Insurers have been accused of not treating customers consistently, imposing excesses of thousands of pounds and even refusing to insure properties altogether.
The flooding in Cumbria may have been a one in a 1,000 year event, but flooding – and the chaos that goes with it – is something that more homeowners are experiencing. The damage, disruption and mess that go with it can be devastating – and the costs of the cleanup can run to hundreds of millions of pounds. But the National Flood Forum says that some insurers are breaking the rules set out by their own trade body and letting their customers down.
