Insurance Checker

Home emergency

Home emergency is a form of insurance policy designed to help you cope should a sudden crisis or emergency hit your home. Unfortunately, such things do happen and few of us are immune from the occasional bout of bad luck around the home.

Home emergency cover usually meets the financial costs of urgent call-out remedial action in the event your property is struck by one of the following:

troubles with plumbing or water supply if the problem originates on your property;
blocked drains or related problems if, once again, the disater is on your property;
if your heating system fails;
a failure of the electrical supply providing the fault is on your property;
an infestation of pests.

Policies of this type may also be able to help with:

the costs of emergency accommodation if your home becomes temporarily off limits due to the emergency
maintenance and servicing costs of a boiler (subject to the level of cover you buy).

Generally costs may be extremely high and insurance may be a financial lifeline in such a crisis.

In all cases conditions may apply and typically the policy would need to be read carefully to ensure it was providing the cover required.

Considerations

As may be seen from the list above, home emergency cover functions to protect you and your property from problems that arise with its boundaries.

What this means is that:

typically it will not meet the costs of resolving problems that have arisen elsewhere even if they are affecting your home examples may include a blocked mains sewer, an external electricity supply problem or a leak that originates from neighbours property;
in the case of you renting your home emergencies are typically covered by your landlord and protection is not needed
as a landlord, you may require landlords insurance cover home insurance home emergency policies may not cover property that youre renting out;
policies of this genre are designed to supplement traditional buildings and contents insurance they are not intended as replacements and do not typically cover things such as theft, vandalism, burglary and fire etc.

This is not necessarily a comprehensive list and it is typically important for you to read the terms and conditions of a policy carefully before making a decision.

contents and buildings insurance compared to protection for emergencies

Any protection you are given in your home emergency policy is designed with the aim of providing help with any immediate crisis. They do not provide protection financially for extensive building restoration, property replacement or long-term remedial activities.

Home emergency cover forms of insurance policy typically provide benefits that are not included on a buildings and contents policy but once again to be sure it may be necessary to carefully compare the terms, conditions and benefits of both policies to see if there is an overlap.

Home insurance home emergency policies may play a comforting part in the overall protection you provide for your home. To enhance your protection and for peace of mind you may wish to obtain more information on home emergency protection.