Does insurance cover storm and flood damage?

Storm claims are refused more often than most, and rarely because the policyholder did anything wrong. They are refused because the policy defines storm narrowly and excludes anything the insurer considers to have been deteriorating already.

Safety

Step by step

1. Check what your policy defines as a storm.Most define it by wind speed, commonly around 55mph, or by exceptional rainfall, hail or snow. The insurer will check weather records for your postcode on the date, so the definition is applied factually rather than by how it felt.
2. Understand the wear and tear exclusion.Storm cover pays for damage the storm caused, not for a roof that was already failing. If tiles came off because the fixings had perished, the insurer's position is that the storm exposed the problem rather than created it.
3. Know that maintenance is a condition.Policies require the property to be kept in good repair. Gutters unmaintained for years, or a known problem left unfixed, gives the insurer grounds to decline. This is the most common practical reason a claim fails.
4. Separate storm from flood.Flood — water entering from outside at ground level — is usually a separate insured peril with its own terms, and in some areas its own excess. Check both sections rather than assuming one covers the other.
5. Understand what escape of water means.A burst pipe inside the house is escape of water, a different peril again. Rain coming through a damaged roof may be storm; rain coming through a roof that was already in poor condition may be neither.
6. Check whether fences and gates are covered.Most policies specifically exclude fences, gates and sometimes garden structures from storm damage. This surprises people every winter and it is written in the exclusions.
7. Look at the excess for each peril.Storm and flood frequently carry a higher excess than the standard one, particularly in flood-risk areas. Knowing the figure decides whether claiming is worthwhile.
8. Find out whether alternative accommodation is included.Most buildings policies include it if the property is uninhabitable, up to a limit. That limit matters enormously in a serious claim and is worth knowing before you need it.
9. Know about Flood Re.A scheme that helps make flood cover available for homes in higher-risk areas. If flood cover has been refused or priced unaffordably, it is worth asking insurers about specifically.
10. Keep evidence of maintenance.Receipts for roof repairs, gutter clearing, chimney sweeping, tree work. This is the direct answer to a wear-and-tear refusal, and it costs nothing to keep.
11. Photograph the property before storm season.A dated set of photographs showing the roof, fences and gutters in good order in September is powerful evidence in a December claim.

Tips

• If a claim is declined on wear and tear, ask for the reasoning in writing and the evidence it relies on. Declines are reversed more often than people expect when challenged with maintenance records.
• Check the flood risk for your postcode on the Environment Agency or SEPA maps. It affects both premium and excess, and knowing it before renewal is useful.
• Autumn gutter clearing and a roof check are worth doing partly because they are also the maintenance evidence a winter claim may need.

Questions people ask