Does Home Insurance Cover Subsidence?

It may depend on the country of your residence whether or not you will need to have insurance cover subsidence problems. It may be more common to find areas deemed as higher risk for subsidence in countries such as the U.K. rather than places such as the U.S. or Canada.

For this reason, finding a company that will cover the costs of subsidence insurance may be a difficult task. In the U.K. if an insurance company does not cover subsidence, the Association of British Insurers recommends that people go through a broker to get the best deal.

What is subsidence and how can you determine if you need to get insurance?
If you live in an area that has clay soil, home insurance to cover subsidence will be an important investment to look into.

Things to look out for with home insurance subsidence should be:

- are there any cracks or bulges popping up in your walls?
- do your doors and windows often stick?
- have you noticed your house foundation sinking?
- or do you notice any ripples appearing through your wallpaper?

Subsidence can be caused by many things such as having a property that is built on the edge of a cliff, mining, water abstraction, severe weather conditions or the planting and removal of trees; all of which can cause the ground beneath your home become unstable.

Payouts for subsidence insurance are usually pretty high so rates are similarly pretty expensive. If your home is in the high risk category you will need to have an assessment done each year with the possibility that your premiums could increase.

If you already have an existing policy make sure you read the fine print in your insurance policy to be sure it doesn't have an exclusions statement. You can be guaranteed that if it does, it will say that there is no coverage for landslide floods, mudslides, mine subsidence, volcanic eruptions, mud flows, sewage, surface water and many other such damages.

Often times, these companies will still offer these policies if you pay for an add on. Other times they are just not covered due to the expense it costs to repair. If you find you are not covered, do some research to find a company that will give it to you and consider canceling the existing one to allow you to obtain the new one.

Often one of the best ways to insure you do not have to worry whether or not your home insurance will cover subsidence, is to do research before buying your home. Check to see if the property has needed to have any underpinning done to it, as this is used to cement and restructure the foundation, adding support from damages incurred by past subsidence. You may want to think twice before purchasing a home that may be in a high risk location.

Keep in mind, if you do not have the proper insurance coverage for subsidence, you could find yourself having to find thousands of pounds to cover considerable site examinations such as trial holes, topsoil tests, drainage testing and observance that can go on for months or even years. You worked hard to get your home, take the time to find the right home insurance that will cover subsidence.