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Most common home insurance claims by area

Based on home insurance quote data for 2022[1], we’ve rounded up the 20 places across the UK where you’re most likely to fall foul of some of the most common home insurance claims – from risks such as falling trees, escape of water, fires and theft. Is your neighbourhood on our list?

Risk

Area
% of Quotes

Overall Common Home Claims Data

 

Claim Categories Total claims Percentage of overall
Accidental loss/damage at home 21681 28.33%
Escape of water 19749 25.81%
Storm 9562 12.50%
Theft from home (incl. outbuildings) 5558 7.26%
Accidental loss/damage away from home 5337 6.97%
Other causes at home 2701 3.53%
Theft away from home 2457 3.21%
Malicious damage at home 1595 2.08%
Fire 1490 1.95%
Flood 1475 1.93%
Accidental loss/damage outside home 1123 1.47%
Collision 950 1.24%
Food in freezer 817 1.07%
Subsidence 652 0.85%
Theft from outside home 595 0.78%
Falling trees 377 0.49%
Escape of water due to freezing 136 0.18%
Lightning 111 0.15%
Leakage of oil 108 0.14%
Other causes away from home 20 0.03%
Property owners liability 10 0.01%
Occupiers liability 7 0.01%
Arson 7 0.01%
Grand Total 76518  

Key Aspects of Home Insurance Coverage

Home insurance can't stop events like floods or fires occurring, but it can give you peace of mind you'll be covered should the worst happen.

It’s worth checking your home insurance cover to make sure that you have the right cover in place. Particularly if you like in an area prone to thefts or weather damage.

Home insurance may not always be the thing you want to think about, but it’s a huge relief knowing you’re covered just in case.

Fire
Your home insurance will cover claims for damage and loss due to fire, as long as the blaze wasn’t due to negligence.
Malicious damage
Vandalism or malicious damage cover is fairly standard and will cover things like broken locks and damage to your garden.
Accidental loss
This means sudden and unexpected damage to your property or its contents, like drink spills or drilling through a pipe.
Falling trees
Some insurers want to know how close any trees are to your home, to help them assess the risk of damage should one fall.
Theft from the home and outbuildings
Another common feature of home insurance – you’ll be covered for stolen items and damaged caused during a theft
Storm damage
Damage due to strong winds and heavy rain is usually covered, but the terms vary by insurer
Escape of water
Water that’s leaking from a burst pipe or a faulty appliance, for example. Insurers will usually cover water damage and the cost of repairing the leak, but finding the leak (trace and access cover) might be a separate element of your home policy.
Lightning
Fires caused by lightning or damage to your house – due to it striking your chimney stack, for example – is usually covered under weather or storm damage

Sources

  • [1] We've looked at all of the areas of the UK where claims were made and what the claim was for.
  • We've then pulled out the top 20 areas where those claims were most frequently made.
  • Data is based on home quotes completed in 2022
  • Data relates to last quote per customer in year
  • % of Quote relates to the % of quotes (last per customer per year) in each area where the customer declared 1 or more claim of the specified type when completing their home quote. Where fewer than 5 claims of the specified type were declared for the area, the area has been excluded from the output