What is home emergency cover?
Home emergency cover is an optional add-on to your standard home insurance policy. It gives you extra protection for your home. It covers any urgent issues that affect your property to the point where you may be unable to stay there.
What's covered by home emergency cover?
With home emergency cover, we've got you covered for a range of unexpected situations. You’ll be covered in the case of things like:
Boiler and central heating breakdown
If your main heating system breaks or you have a leak that leaves you without any hot water home emergency will help cover the cost of the repair, or replacement if needed. You’ll have to make sure that you’re regularly getting your boiler serviced for your plan to continue to be valid. If your boiler is slightly newer, you may be expected to go back to the manufacturer and get it fixed under warranty. Some insurers may not cover older boilers.
Roof damage after a storm
If you lose tiles, get a leak, or have other roof issues, home emergency cover can help pay for emergency repairs.
Plumbing emergencies and external drainage
There are a few things that are covered under ‘plumbing emergencies’ these are things like:
- Blocked or leaking toilets
- Leaking pipes, joints or internal stop-taps
- Isolating and draining of a leaking water tank, water cylinder or expansion tank
- Leaking soil vent pipes
- Blocked waste pipes or blocked drains meaning all sinks become blocked
- Unblocking of external drains within the boundary of the property
- Repair collapsed external drains as long as they’re not beneath any buildings
Electrical emergency
This will cover things like:
- Breakdown of a fuse box
- Lost power to a circuit
- Permanent damage to the domestic electrical wiring caused by a power cut
Lost keys or damage to locks, doors and windows
If you have had any security issues at home, home emergency cover will help you feel safe again. It covers:
- Use of tarpaulin to protect your property in the event of a damaged roof
- Boarding up any broken windows or doors to secure your home
- Replacing any locks and keys when your key has been lost or has been stolen (and you don’t have another set)
- Repair broken locks for external windows and doors to secure your home.
Pest infestation
If you have a pest infestation home emergency covers you for the removal of any unexpected guests in your home. It covers rats, mice, wasps, or hornet’s nests that may be invading your space.
Hotel accommodation and travel
If your home becomes unliveable because of something covered by your emergency home insurance, you will usually be eligible to make a claim which could cover costs of hotels and travel.
What's not covered?
When it comes to what’s not covered it’s broken down again into the parts of your home.
General exclusions
These will be things like cosmetic damage and wear and tear. Where we’re expected to see some kind of deterioration in the items.
Certain household items
Like we mentioned earlier, some items might not be covered under home emergency. This can include older style boilers, dual purpose boilers and things like solar heating systems.
Are home emergencies covered by my home insurance?
Home insurance typically will cover damage to your home and its contents due to a specific incident, such as fire, theft or natural disaster. Home emergencies often need urgent and sudden attention. So, sometimes coverage for situations can vary.
