Halifax: Survive the freeze with home insurance

Thursday, 07 January 2010 12:00

Halifax is highlighting the importance of home insurance as the cold weather threatens to cause problems for many property owners.

Freezing temperatures, the insurer warned, can cause burst or leaking pipes leading to extensive damage to properties including structural problems and electrical faults.

With one in six home insurance claims being for burst pipes, and with the average cost of repairing the damage being £2,000, Halifax said getting home insurance to cover this was essential.

Martyn Foulds, senior claims manager at Halifax Home Insurance, said: "It's worth ensuring the home is properly insured, taking steps to prevent frozen pipes, making sure you have adequate insurance in place and also knowing what to do to limit the damage if a pipe does burst."

Halifax's home insurance plan offers no limit on the sum insured, which means policyholders will never find themselves underinsured.

However it still urged homeowners to take preventative steps, such as insulating the loft, water pipes and sides of the water tank, to help prevent burst pipes.

The insurer said if you do suffer a burst pipe it's important to turn off the mains water supply first, then drain the water system down by running all cold taps and to catch any dripping water in a bucket.

It also advises people suffering a burst pipe to turn off their central heating and immersion heater and turn on hot taps to drain the water before contacting their home insurer.

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