Home emergency cover gives you access to a 24-hour helpline and tradespeople on hand to fix anything that could immediately affect your health or safety
You’ll get a fast response and financial cover to repair urgent issues with your boiler, heating system, plumbing or electrics.
It won’t cover the cost of putting right any damage caused to your home because of the emergency – you’ll need your home insurance for that.
Home emergency cover isn’t always included on a standard home insurance policy.
If it isn’t, you can usually pay to add it as an extra. Otherwise, you can buy a stand-alone home emergency policy through us.
There are two main ways to buy home emergency cover: with your home insurance, or as a stand-alone policy.
You usually need to pay extra to include home emergency cover on your home insurance and it isn’t available on all policies.
According to Defaqto, only 24% of 383 buildings insurance policies include home emergency cover as standard, but it can be added for an additional cost to 53%[1]
Check your terms and conditions to see what you’re covered for.
You might find that buying a dedicated home emergency policy costs a bit more than adding it to your home insurance, but you’ll be able to add as little or as much cover as you need.
So you could choose a basic policy for a low cost to just protect your boiler, or opt for one that covers heating, electrics, pipes, vermin damage and more.
You can even include an annual boiler service with some policies, which can work out good value.
According to the ABI in Dec 2018
No, it’ll only cover immediate fixes and not the repair work needed afterwards.
So, it’d cover the cost of an emergency plumber coming in to repair a burst pipe, but not the cost of replacing blown plaster on walls, or water-damaged wood flooring. Your home insurance might cover you for this though.
If any more work is needed after the immediate repairs - for example, to improve a heating system and avoid future problems - you'll have to cover the cost yourself
You’ll also need to keep your home in a good state of repair and make sure you carry out routine maintenance - your home emergency policy could refuse to pay out if an issue is caused by your negligence.
You’ll be covered for:
There’s usually a limit on the number of home emergency call outs you can make with a policy as well.
You can get home emergency cover for the most important things that can go wrong in your home.
This’ll help just in case your heating system fails, leaving you with a chilly home or no hot water.
Protects you if your pipes, flushes and storage tanks leak or break.
If your electricity fails, and your house is uninhabitable, home emergency cover will pay for a tradesperson to come and fix the immediate problem.
Cover your windows, doors and locks after breakages or break-ins.
If your roof is damaged, home emergency insurance can cover the cost of urgent fixes.
Cover to remove infestations of insects or vermin.
Call the emergency helpline as soon as you notice the problem.
Depending on how serious the problem is, a tradesperson should be with you within a few hours – no more than 24.
If you also have home insurance, someone from your insurance provider might come out to assess the damage too if you’re making a claim.
Don’t try to sort out repairs for yourself if you want to make a claim on your home emergency policy - if you get a local tradesperson to come out to you directly instead, you won’t be covered.
Check out our seven handy hints to cut the cost of home emergency cover:
It’s usually cheaper to pay in one go
Check whether repairs are protected under a guarantee
Properly maintain your property and its contents to avoid unnecessary claims
If you don’t need it for your boiler, don’t get it
Make sure it isn’t included as part of your home insurance
We can help you find the right policy
Anything that impacts your immediate safety or health.
Risks that leave your home unsafe or at risk of further damage are also covered.
It depends on your policy - check when you take it out if there’s an excess and that you can afford to pay it.
No, your landlord should deal with any emergencies you have.
They don’t need to have home emergency cover by law but it can help to keep landlord-tenant relationships on track if there’s a problem with the heating, plumbing or electrics.
[1]Last checked 10 June 2019