Home insurance advised on summer subsidence threat

Posted : 12-05-2006

Homeowners are being advised to ensure they have adequate home insurance cover before summer, as the annual threat of subsidence rears its ugly head.

Houses with shallow foundations built pre-1965 are most at risk, according to RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors), as they are most vulnerable to heave.

This occurs when a hot spell is broken by a period of rain, causing the soil to expand. However, this expansion is rarely evenly distributed within the soil causing "differential heave", which may cause the building to fracture.

As a result, homeowners are being urged to check their home insurance policy to ensure they are covered against subsidence. A crack of just 3mm is considered serious and requires immediate action, and the cost of repairing subsidence, or solving it completely by underpinning the house can be ruinous, so owners should ensure they are covered before it happens.

RICS spokesperson Roy Ilott, said: "We, like the insurance companies, are expecting to see a rise in the incidence of subsidence. Finding the cracks and notifying your insurance company can be the easy part — rectifying the problem can be very complex, costly and disruptive to the household.

"House owners should be prepared for delays as premature action can cause further problems and insurers will usually want to monitor walls for a season to assess a pattern."

Making a claim for subsidence can be stressful as it involves many different parties, such the insurer, the owner, the loss adjuster, a building surveyor or engineer, and the building contractor, but eminently worth it given the high cost of repair.


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