Step 1. Stop the water and make it safe
Stopcock off. Run the cold taps to drain down. If water is anywhere near sockets, consumer unit or lighting, kill the power to those circuits. Open windows. Admiral gives its customers the same list, and no insurer will criticise you for doing it.
Mitigating further damage is not just sensible, it is usually a policy condition. Leaving a ceiling filling with water because you were waiting for permission will hurt the claim, not help it.
Step 2. Photograph it wet
This is the step people skip, and the one that decides borderline claims. Before you mop, lift or move anything:
- Wide shots of each affected room, then close shots of each damaged element.
- The source if it is visible, and the ceiling or floor above and below it.
- Anything that shows the damage is recent rather than long-standing. The Financial Ombudsman Service, in a published case where an insurer relied on a gradual damage exclusion, described photographs showing a fresh stain with no mould or extensive discolouration as part of why the claim succeeded.
- A meter photograph if the loss is on the supply side. Two readings an hour or two apart with everything off is the cleanest proof a leak exists. See reading your meter.
Step 3. Notify before you commission work
Notify the insurer as soon as you reasonably can, and say what you have already done to make it safe. Then ask three questions in writing and keep the answers:
- Does the policy include trace and access, and what is the limit?
- Am I required to use your contractor, or may I appoint my own and submit the report?
- What excess applies, and is there a separate escape of water excess?
The second question matters more than it looks. The Financial Ombudsman notes that when an insurer appoints a repairer, the insurer becomes responsible for that repairer and any subcontractors, and for putting right problems with the work. That can be an advantage. It can also mean a long wait on someone else's schedule.
Which policy you are claiming on
Most people say they are "claiming on house insurance" without knowing which part of it. It matters, because the two halves often sit with different insurers, carry different excesses, and in a flat may not even be in your name.
| What was damaged | Usually claimed under |
|---|
| Ceilings, walls, floors, plaster, fitted kitchen and bathroom | Buildings insurance |
| Finding the leak and opening up to reach it | Buildings insurance, under trace and access if included |
| Carpets, furniture, electricals, belongings | Contents insurance (fitted carpets vary by insurer) |
| The structure of a flat in a block | Often the freeholder's block policy, not yours |
| A rented home's building and fixtures | The landlord's buildings policy; your contents stay with you |
If you own a flat, ask the managing agent for the block policy details on the first day. If you rent, tell the landlord in writing straight away, and claim only your own belongings on your contents policy. The detail for flats is in leak from the flat above: who pays, and for tenants in landlord water leak responsibility.
Step 4. Get the source identified properly
A claim handler cannot pay out on "somewhere under the hall floor". They need a located defect and a stated method.
A detection visit isolates and pressure tests the suspect circuit to prove the loss is real and size it, follows the run with thermal imaging, maps moisture across the floor or wall to bound the wet area, and where the circuit can be drained, uses tracer gas to pinpoint the exit. The output is a report that names the pipe, the material, the depth, the defect, and the single point that has to be opened.
Our report is written to be accepted for a trace and access claim. It separates detection, access, repair and reinstatement onto their own lines so a handler can allocate each to the right policy section without ringing anyone. That is the difference between a claim that settles and a claim that goes round twice.
Step 5. The adjuster stage
On larger losses an insurer appoints a loss adjuster to inspect. They will want to establish the source, whether it was sudden or long-running, whether the property was occupied, when it was reported, and the reasonable cost of reinstatement. Give them the report and the photographs, and answer plainly. Do not speculate about how long it had been leaking, because that is the exact question the gradual damage exclusion turns on and it is for the insurer to evidence, not for you to guess at.
Step 6. Drying before reinstatement
Screed, concrete and solid plaster hold water long after the surface feels dry. Replastering or relaying flooring onto a wet substrate produces blown plaster, lifting adhesive and a second claim. Ask for moisture readings in writing before reinstatement is signed off.
Step 7. Settlement
Buildings and contents policies are, as the Financial Ombudsman puts it, "generally policies of indemnity, which means they aim to put the policyholder back in the position they were in just before the loss or damage happened". Not better, not worse. A cash settlement should "reflect the cost to the customer of getting a repair done or replacing an item". If the offer will not actually buy the repair, say so in writing with a quote attached. More on this under excess and betterment.
Where claims quietly go wrong
- Tidying up first. No wet photographs, no evidence the damage was recent.
- Stripping out before the inspection. The adjuster cannot see what you saw.
- Guessing at the source verbally. "I think it has been going a while" ends up in the file.
- No written record of what the handler agreed. Staff change. Emails do not.
- Accepting an early offer that does not cover reinstatement. Get the quote first.
If it goes wrong anyway
Complain to the insurer in writing and ask for a final response quoting the clause they rely on. FCA rule ICOBS 8.1.1R requires insurers to handle claims promptly and fairly, give reasonable guidance, not unreasonably reject a claim, and settle promptly once terms are agreed. If eight weeks pass without a final response, or you disagree with it, take it to the Financial Ombudsman Service. It is free, you do not need a lawyer or a claims management company, and you have six months from the date on the final response.
If the repair is close to your excess, claiming costs you the excess and a claims history entry for very little. If the loss is on the underground supply pipe between the boundary and the house, that is more often a water company and supply pipe question than an insurance one. And if a boiler is losing pressure with nothing visibly wet, diagnose the pressure loss before anyone lifts a floor.
Where detection is the right answer, we charge £150 per hour agreed before attending, and if we do not find the leak you do not pay for the time spent looking. Book an engineer.
