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Flood insurance

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Home insurance for flood risk areas

Flood insurance is a part of any standard home insurance policy and covers you for damage and losses caused by flood water.

If you make a successful claim for flood damage, your insurer will pay out to repair or rebuild your home and to replace destroyed possessions covered by your policy.

Flood cover on your home insurance could help you in the following scenarios:

  • A river or canal in close proximity to your home bursts its banks
  • Unusually high tides or bad storms cause seawater to enter your home
  • Heavy rainfall causes surface water or groundwater flooding
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Can I get insurance if I live in high flood risk area?

Historically, it was difficult to find reasonably priced cover if your home had previously been hit by a flood.

The Association of British Insurers launched the Flood Re scheme in 2016 to combat this. Flood Re help insurance providers offer more affordable flood risk insurance policies.

Under the scheme, your insurer pays out if you make a valid claim for flood damage, but it can then claim back a proportion of the money from the Flood Re fund. This reduces the insurer’s financial risk, so it can offer you cheaper cover.

Free £250 home excess cover, only with GoCompare^

If you need to claim on your home insurance - for example, if your building is damaged by subsidence or your possessions are stolen - your free home excess cover will refund up to £250 of your excess.

There’s no hidden charge. But you won't be covered for things like accidental loss such as leaving a laptop on a train or accidental damage, such as spilling wine on your carpet or drilling through a pipe.

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^UK residents and home insurance purchases only. Excess refunded after claim settled. Excludes accidental loss or damage claims made on your home insurance. Full T&Cs apply.

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What will flood insurance cover?

It depends on whether you take our buildings insurance, contents insurance or both and cover varies from insurer to insurer.

Read the policy details to see what you'll be covered for before taking out a policy.

Flood cover with buildings insurance

Flood cover under buildings insurance can pay for:

  • Removal of debris inside the home
  • Drying out a property
  • Repairs and restoration to structure, fixtures and fittings such as the building foundations, electrics and plumbing
  • Fees for services like legal expenses, property surveyors and architect fees

More about building insurance >

Flood cover with contents insurance

Flood cover on a contents insurance policy will include repairs or restoration for your household items. This included things like:

  • Furniture, carpets, lamps and sofas
  • TVs, computers and other electricals
  • Fridge freezers, washing machines and other kitchen appliances
  • DVDs, books, and toys

Any items worth more than your policy’s single article limit will need to be listed separately on your policy.

If you want cover for valuable items like jewellery, gadgets, bikes or musical equipment you'll need to tell your insurer and probably pay an additional premium.

More about contents insurance >

Exclusions

Home insurance policies don’t all offer the same level of cover and some types of cover will only be available as an optional extras. For instance you might not be covered as standard for:

  • Flooding that occurs due to a burst pipe or escape of water
  • Alternative accommodation if your home becomes inhabitable
  • Damaged fences, hedges or gates

Check your policy details or speak to your insurer to make sure you're getting the cover you need.

How much does flood insurance cost?

The cost of home insurance with flood cover varies, depending on how close you live to water.

The average annual cost of home insurance for those within 150 metres of water is £206.

Homes over 400 metres away pay £165 on average.*

If you're home has flooded before it may cost you more than before you suffered any flooding. You might be able to get cheaper quotes if measures are taken to reduce to the possibly of water entering your home.

*The average price paid for home insurance annually through GoCompare in July 2022, depending on the property's distance from water. For properties within 150 metres of water, it was £206. For properties up to 400 metres away it was £183. For properties more than 400 metres away from water it was £165.
cost of home insurance by proximity to water

How to compare quotes for flood cover

Comparing quotes for home insurance with flood cover is easy. Here are some of the specific details you may need:

  1. Type of cover

    Whether you need buildings insurance, contents insurance or both

  2. Property details

    The type of property and the materials it's made from

  3. Your proximity to water

    Within 150 metres, 150 to 400 metres, or over 400 metres

  4. History of flooding

    Whether your home or outbuildings have ever been flooded by an external source

  5. Level of cover

    How much you'd like to insure your building and your contents for

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According to the British Insurance Brokers Association (BIBA) one in six UK homes are at risk of flooding. This number is expected to rise in the future, with climate change increasing the possibility of extreme weather events, so it’s important that you’re honest about your home’s flood risk when getting insurance.
Ceri McMillan - Home insurance expert

Flood insurance FAQs

  • You can make a claim for flood damage by:

    • Letting your insurer known as soon as you can
    • Gathering evidence by taking photos and getting professional reports on the damage
    • Leave everything as it is, because your insurer needs to agree to pay for any repairs you make before they’re made, unless they’re emergency fixes
    • Consider consulting a loss assessor, who'll be able to tell you and your insurer the extent of the damage and the repairs needed

  • If you're a student or a tenant renting a property, it's your landlord’s responsibility to insure your building for damages by flooding. If you own the contents of the rented property, you'll need to have your own contents insurance.

    Find out more about home insurance for tenants and renters >

  • You can check your flood risk by paying for a professional flood risk assessment or by visit the following pages:

  • In the event of flood damage, business insurance may cover the cost of repairs and restoration to your business premises.

    If you rent your premises, it's your landlord’s responsibility to provide building cover. It's your responsibility to insure your business’s contents however.

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Page last reviewed: 23 June 2022