Home emergency cover is an excellent type of insurance, which gives you cover for plenty of different things in a single insurance policy.
In this guide, we will explain all you have to know about home emergency insurance, what it includes and excludes, and how much you might need to pay.
Let's dive in!
Table of Contents
What is home emergency cover?
Home emergency insurance does what it says on the tin. It's insurance that covers you, and provides help and support, if you have a home emergency. It covers your boiler, wiring, plumbing and central heating, but it will also cover any other problem that could make your home unsafe or uninhabitable.
You should take out this insurance only if you own your Home. If you are a tenant, your landlord has to arrange such insurance. If you're a landlord, you should try to find a Landlord's Insurance that provides home emergency cover.
What does home emergency cover can help you with?
In detail, here is what home emergency can cover:
- Boiler, central heating issues
- Plumbing and drainage cover
- Electric failures causing power loss
- Security - Broken doors, windows
- Roof issues: only for urgent matters, that requires urgent intervention (eg storm damage)
- Pest infection (rats, etc)
Some policies will also propose alternative accomodations if you can't stay in your home as a result of the emergency. You can decide to take just boiler cover, or roof issues, it is up to you, you don't have to take the whole protection.
Does home insurance cover home emergency?
Home emergency cover can be included in your home insurance as standard. Some home insurance allows you to include it as an optional extra. You can also buy home emergency cover as a standalone policy.
How does home emergency insurance work?
Your insurer will give you an emergency phone number to call in case of emergency, if you have an issue that needs to be fixed immediately. Your insurance company will then send someone to take care of your issue. Depending on the emergency, this person will come within a few hours - perhaps later, but anyway not more than 24 hours. Don't call a tradesperson yourself, as it may be not covered by your insurance company.
Do I need home emergency cover?
It can be very difficult and costly to find a plumber or electrician who can come out to fix an emergency. With a home emergency policy, you're sorted. It's a really good policy to have, as you're covered with a single phone call for a wide range of different potential problems. You don't have to spend time looking for the right tradesperson - your insurance company will take care of everything.
What are the best insurers to cover home emergency?
You will find in this table the best home emergency cover, we also indicated cover limits.
Included in home insurance | Claim limit | Accomodation limit | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Lewis | Yes | £200 as standard £1000 as extra | £1000 1 night emergency | |
| Royal Sun Alliance | Yes | £200 as standard £1000 as extra | £1000 1 night emergency | |
| Bradford And Bing | No | £1000 | 1750£ for emergency accomodation Up to 7 nights | |
| More Than | Yes | £200 as standard £1000 as extra | Up to £1000 1 night | |
| Saga | No | £2000 | £450 3 nights | |
| HSBC | No | £1000 | £1000 | |
| Aviva | No | £1000 | £1000 | |
| Barclays Bank | No | £1000 | No limit |
Included in home insurance | Claim limit | Accomodation limit | |
|---|---|---|---|
| John Lewis | Yes | £200 as standard £1000 as extra | £1000 1 night emergency |
| Royal Sun Alliance | Yes | £200 as standard £1000 as extra | £1000 1 night emergency |
| Bradford And Bing | No | £1000 | 1750£ for emergency accomodation Up to 7 nights |
| More Than | Yes | £200 as standard £1000 as extra | Up to £1000 1 night |
| Saga | No | £2000 | £450 3 nights |
| HSBC | No | £1000 | £1000 |
| Aviva | No | £1000 | £1000 |
| Barclays Bank | No | £1000 | No limit |
Included in home insurance | Claim limit | |
|---|---|---|
| John Lewis | Yes | £200 as standard £1000 as extra |
| Royal Sun Alliance | Yes | £200 as standard £1000 as extra |
| Bradford And Bing | No | £1000 |
| More Than | Yes | £200 as standard £1000 as extra |
| Saga | No | £2000 |
| HSBC | No | £1000 |
| Aviva | No | £1000 |
| Barclays Bank | No | £1000 |
What are the worst insurers to cover home emergency?
You will find in this table the worst home emergency cover, we also indicated cover limits.
Included in home insurance | Claim limit | Accomodation limit | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age co | No | £500 | £250 | |
| Post Office | No | £1,000 | £300 | |
| Tesco Bank | No | £1,000 | £500 | |
| Halifax | No | £1,000 | £200 | |
| RIAS | No | £500 | £250 | |
| Swinton | No | £500 | £500 | |
| Coop | No | £250 | £100 | |
| Direct Line | No | £500 | £250 |
Included in home insurance | Claim limit | Accomodation limit | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age co | No | £500 | £250 |
| Post Office | No | £1,000 | £300 |
| Tesco Bank | No | £1,000 | £500 |
| Halifax | No | £1,000 | £200 |
| RIAS | No | £500 | £250 |
| Swinton | No | £500 | £500 |
| Coop | No | £250 | £100 |
| Direct Line | No | £500 | £250 |
Included in home insurance | Claim limit | |
|---|---|---|
| Age co | No | £500 |
| Post Office | No | £1,000 |
| Tesco Bank | No | £1,000 |
| Halifax | No | £1,000 |
| RIAS | No | £500 |
| Swinton | No | £500 |
| Coop | No | £250 |
| Direct Line | No | £500 |
What should I pay attention to while purchasing home emergency cover?
When taking out an home emergency cover, you must pay attention to a number of factors:
- Check you home insurance, maybe you are already covered
- Many exclusions can apply
- You must call the emergency phone number that your insurance company gave you, not find your own tradespeople
- If you make a claim on emergency cover under your home insurance, it could affect your No Claim Bonus, and your premiums could increase.
- Sometimes you will have an excess to pay. Check if the excess is higher than the cost of fixing this emergency yourself.
How much does home emergency cover usually cost?
If you take Home emergency cover as an add-on to your Home insurance, it will cost you around £50 per year, depending on the insurer and the elements that you want to include in it.
If you take Home emergency cover as a standalone policy, it will cost you from £7 to £42 per month (£84-504 a year), from the least comphrensive policy to the most.
What are the home emergency policy exclusions?
Home emergency doesn't cover:
- Claims made during the first 14 days, and sometimes more of the policy.
- Emergencies or issues occuring in a home that was unoccupied for more than 30 days
- Boiler emergency if the boiler was not serviced during the past year.
- Claims where you haven't taken reasonable care of your home, for example poor maintenance.