What should I do if my home is uninhabitable after damage?

Uninhabitable is an insurance term as much as a practical one: it means the home cannot reasonably be lived in, usually because there is no safe power, no heating or hot water, no working kitchen or bathroom, or a structural risk. It matters because almost every UK buildings and contents policy includes alternative accommodation cover — often generous — and because that cover normally requires the insurer to agree the arrangement rather than reimburse whatever you booked.

Safety

What you'll need

• Your policy number and the insurer's emergency claims line
• A phone with a camera
• Somewhere to stay for the first night
• Bank card and identification
• A notebook for names, times and reference numbers (optional)

Step by step

1. Make sure nobody goes back in until it is declared safe.After a fire, the fire service will say. After a flood, the risks are the electrics, contaminated water and weakened floors. If in any doubt, stay out and ring the insurer from wherever you are.
2. Ring the insurer's emergency line the same day.It is a 24-hour number, separate from the main claims line, and it is the one that authorises emergency accommodation, a loss adjuster and making the property secure. Get a claim reference before you do anything else.
3. Ask explicitly about alternative accommodation before booking anything.Ask what the limit is, whether pets are included, whether they will book it or you will, and whether they pay directly. Booking a hotel yourself and asking later is the most common way people end up out of pocket.
4. Photograph and video everything before it is moved.Every room, every wall, every damaged item, wide shots and close-ups, before any clean-up. Do not throw anything away until the insurer or the loss adjuster has agreed you can — take photographs of what you dispose of and keep a list.
5. Get the utilities isolated properly rather than switched off casually.Ring 105 for the electricity network and 0800 111 999 if there is any smell of gas — both are Great Britain numbers; in Northern Ireland it is NIE Networks on 03457 643 643 and 0800 002 001 for gas. If the installation has been flooded, an electrician must test and certify it before it is re-energised, and a Gas Safe engineer must check any appliance that has been wet.
6. Secure the property.Boarding, a temporary roof covering, locks. Most policies require you to prevent further damage, and most will pay for emergency securing — but ask before commissioning, and keep the invoice.
7. Tell everyone who needs to know your address has changed.Employer, school, GP, bank, energy suppliers, council tax, Royal Mail redirection. Councils also often reduce or suspend council tax on an uninhabitable property, which nobody tells you unless you ask.
8. Keep every receipt from the first day.Emergency clothing, food, travel, laundry, pet boarding. Most policies cover reasonable additional costs, but only against receipts, and the first week is when the spending is heaviest and the record-keeping is worst.
9. Understand that drying takes months.Wet masonry dries at roughly 25mm of thickness per month in good conditions. A flooded house is typically six months to a year before reinstatement can start, and pressure to redecorate early is the most expensive mistake in the whole process.
10. Get your own account of the damage written down.The loss adjuster works for the insurer. You are entitled to appoint a loss assessor to act for you, and for a large claim it is often worth it. Either way, keep your own written record of every conversation, with names and dates.

Tips

• If you are a tenant, the landlord's buildings insurance covers the building and yours covers your belongings — and the landlord is generally not obliged to house you, so your own contents policy's alternative accommodation cover is what matters.
• Ask the insurer whether the policy has a 'matching sets' clause. It decides whether you get a whole floor replaced or one damaged room's worth that will never match.
• Take meter readings before you leave and tell the energy suppliers the property is unoccupied — otherwise estimated bills continue at the old rate for months.
• The Priority Services Register with your energy and water suppliers gives priority contact and support if anyone in the household is vulnerable, and it is free to join.

Common mistakes

• Throwing damaged belongings away before they are recorded — An insurer cannot pay for what nobody can show existed. Photograph everything, list it, and keep it until you are told you can dispose of it.
• Booking accommodation and claiming later — Most policies require prior authorisation and pay at their negotiated rates. Unauthorised bookings are routinely reduced or refused.
• Switching the power back on to see what works — A flooded consumer unit, socket or cable can be lethal even after it looks dry, and doing it invalidates the claim on anything you then damage. It is an electrician's job and a certificate is the outcome.
• Agreeing to reinstatement as soon as the surfaces feel dry — Surfaces dry long before the structure does. Plaster and flooring installed over wet masonry produce mould and blown plaster within a year, and the second repair is rarely covered.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask