All it takes is one minor pipe leak to cause serious damage to your home. This can happen with no warning signs, yet the damage caused can be enough that it would be incredibly costly to rectify. Should this ever happen to you, then your best bet is to make a water damage insurance claim.
In order to maximise your chances of your claim being accepted and restoring your property to pre-loss condition, there are certain steps that you should follow. Read on below as we advise you on these, discussing all you need to know regarding escape of water claims.
What Is Considered an ‘Escape of Water’?
If you’re making a water leak insurance claim, then you’ll likely come across the term ‘escape of water’. This term is used by insurers to refer to water leaks that have come from inside the property, as opposed to external leaks or flood damage. For example, a leak from a pipe, appliance (e.g. washing machine) or heating system.
As such, the most commonly affected areas for escape of water claims typically tend to be bathrooms and kitchens – however, because concealed pipes run throughout your property, a leak has the potential to damage any part of your property.
The Steps to Making a Water Damage Insurance Claim
- Minimise the Leak Damage
As soon as you notice that you have water damage in your home, the first thing you want to do is minimise the damage this causes. Not only is this in your best interest, but your insurers expect you to do everything you can to limit the damage (which is known as mitigation).
In order to do this, your first point of call should be to turn off your internal stopcock, which is crucial to shutting off your water supply. If you aren’t sure where this is and can’t find it, then you can turn off the water supply by closing the mains stopcock on the outside of your property.
If the leak is bad enough, then you should also turn off the electrics to avoid electrical damage and potential injury. Doing these things will prevent the damage to your property from worsening.
- Contact All Property Claims
Once the damage has been mitigated, your next steps should always be to contact All Property Claims. We will collect information about the damage, your insurance details and arrange for a surveyor to come to your property as soon as possible.
- The Survey
Having unequivocal proof of the damage to back up your claim is an important part of the process; the more persuasive the evidence, the higher the chances of a successful claim.
Our surveyor will take photos of the damage as soon as possible. This way, if you start off with a smaller leak, then you can document the damage as it gets worse, using the ‘before’ and ‘after’ shots that can be used in conjunction with a detailed report from a leak detection expert to support your claim. We’ll discuss this further shortly.
It is good to do this yourself in terms of taking photos, but with All Property Claims we will also send out a surveyor who will take these steps for you and compile a detailed report – taking photos, measurements and details of what happened and when.
- Book a Trace and Access Service
It’s not always easy to tell where a leak comes from, especially if it’s coming from one of your concealed pipes. If this is the case, then your best option is to hire a leak detection expert to perform a trace and access investigation.
Most insurers will advise you to do what it takes to locate and stop the water damage, which may even involve ripping up your flooring or damaging your wall. Using a trace and access service may avoid this, instead using non-intrusive methods such as thermal imaging, moisture analysis, tracer dyes and more to pinpoint the source of your water damage.
- Discuss with the Loss Adjuster
Once all the images needed to support the claim have been collected, All Property Claims will get in touch with your insurance as soon as possible with a detailed report.
Your insurer will probably appoint a loss adjuster to meet our surveyor on-site and agree to all of the damages and costs. They will decide if you’re fully covered under the insurance policy you hold and determine whether our amount is agreeable to the insurer. The loss adjuster may argue the scope of repairs being claimed but, here at All Property Claims, we pride ourselves on having less than 0.5% of our past claims being refused.
- Restoration Work
Once the scope of repairs has been agreed, we will assign our restoration contractors to carry out all of the work agreed in restoring the property to pre-loss condition.
From Water Leaks to Roof Damage Claims: How Can All Property Claims Help?
Though the process of submitting an insurance claim appears rather straightforward when laid out in these detailed steps, it can still be a lot more hassle than you’ll be prepared to deal with. That’s where we come in.
When you appoint us, we will manage the process of submitting your claim for you from start to finish, keeping you in the loop throughout. With our extensive knowledge and experience, we are familiar with all the terminology included in insurance policies and are adept at liaising with insurers. Our priority is ensuring that the scope of repairs needed to restore the property to pre-loss condition are agreed by the insurer.
By relying on us, you won’t have to deal with the stress of communicating with insurers and loss adjusters or trying to contact different builders for a quote. In our process, we will appoint our own surveyor to come and assess the damage to your property and send a detailed report and summary of the scope of repairs to your insurer, as well as liaise with the loss adjuster they may appoint to agree the scope of repairs. We will also make sure that all drying work is started promptly to make sure there isn’t any further damage.
Being an FCA-regulated company, as your insurance company will also be, we will ensure that all damage for which insurers have liability under your policy terms is properly identified and reported to them without any corners being cut. We have mutual respect with most major insurance companies and they know that we will only approach them with a valid claim. As such, we are effective in arguing what should and should not be included by your insurers in your claim.
Over 99% of the claims we present are approved, so you will have peace of mind that your insurers will approve your claim and pay out the necessary compensation to reinstate your home after water damage. The best bit? You won’t have to pay us a penny – the only cost you cover is the excess on your policy!
Get in Touch
So, do you need help with a burst pipe or roof leak insurance claim? Whatever the cause of damage, appoint us to get in touch with your water and flood damage insurers and we’ll handle the process for you, ensuring that your house is restored as soon as possible, with minimal stress on your end.
If you’re unsure about where your leak is, work with our partner company Leak Tracers Direct to help pinpoint the source.Get in touch with us today to learn more about our service or to report the damage you’re dealing with.