10 Summer Holiday Property Claim Scenarios to Beware

The summer holidays can be a joyous time for parents and kids but the summer months also bring their own challenges, whether that’s due to more people being crammed into the house all day, the weather, or changing lifestyle habits.

Property Claim Assist has examined a variety of scenarios that could result in a home or commercial insurance claim this summer, to help you act fast if summer holiday situations catch you out.

Hot sticky weather, playing out all day and more time on our hands can all result in us jumping in the shower more in summer. What might not benefit from that is our shower sealant and grouting, which could start to weaken and deteriorate, causing leaks as water penetrates its defences and arrives in other parts of the home. Many home insurance policies will turn down claims that result from failure of sealant and grout, so make sure you keep on top of your maintenance and maintain a watchful eye when it comes to issues.

Kids are not always on top of their game when it comes to remembering to turn off taps, so always check whether water has been left running.

An internal flood of water can be as damaging as an external one and potentially damage items on more than one floor. Should you suffer an internal leak or flood, however, Property Claim Assist is here to step in.

When you want to get out and about with the kids, it’s more tempting to put a wash on whilst you go out for the day. But, what happens if the washing machine fails to operate and floods the kitchen or utility room whilst you are absent? A serious flood can result from a machine’s failure and where water is present, the damage can be hidden and long-term. If you get back and find this has happened to you, call your insurer immediately but also call your own loss assessor, to get their professional input.

Since we hit those highest temperatures ever recorded in the UK, there’ve been some strange creaks and groans in your property and now a few cracks have started to appear. All the indications are that you are suffering from subsidence and could be heading for a long and protracted claim that is hugely complicated to negotiate and agree.

Get a loss assessor in as soon as possible, remembering the Sahara-like satellite images you’ve seen of the UK this year, which indicate that land has dried out considerably under our foundations.

Summer holidays are back in the schedule for many, which means empty properties. The cost of living crisis is fuelling all sorts of crimes, including thefts and burglaries, so you could return home to find you’ve been a victim. Many properties are better protected though, which means that criminals have to try harder to get in, potentially causing serious property damage in the process. If this happens to you, getting in touch with a loss assessor, who can represent your interests in an insurance claim, makes great sense.

Bees are extremely active in the early summer, settling on somewhere to call home, which may be your cavity wall. At any given moment, especially as we approach September, honeybees could buzz off, but what damage have they caused to your property during their stay?

Call in experts, if you believe a build-up of a hive’s honey could be causing long-term damage to your property and contact a loss assessor, to see if you can make a claim.

Extreme temperatures are often followed by flash floods, which can hit anywhere in an instant, causing a severe accumulation of water within a short time frame, with which sewers just cannot cope. If backing-up of drains and sewers results in a body of water entering your home or commercial premises, it could be highly damaging and distressing, with such water often containing chemicals, mud and sometimes sewage. A flash flood insurance claim is typically a costly and complex one to negotiate, so call in your own loss assessor, to help you negotiate with the insurer’s loss adjuster, as soon as possible.

These two phenomenon can be very very frightening indeed in summer, causing properties to set alight if struck. Should that happen to you, you will have suffered significant loss in the fire, with physical losses, a lingering issue relating to odour and long-term damage not just from the flames but from the resulting tar deposits and soot, not to mention the water that put the fire out.

Fire claims are extremely stressful to negotiate and there are so many aspects that a layman negotiating their own claim can overlook. Get a loss assessor expert in your corner and let them cover all bases in your claim. If you have a specialist property, such as one with a thatched roof, it’s really imperative that you get the right help.

All those holidaymakers and caravans on the road can be a nightmare for property owners living on tight bends, in historic town centres with narrow streets and on country lanes. Many motorists don’t know where they are going and make mistakes, whilst the volume of traffic on the road makes an accident ever more likely. Should your property be struck by a vehicle, you could find yourself facing significant repair or rebuild costs. Don’t go it alone, as a loss assessor will help you not only assess things at face value but consider possible impacts to other parts of your property’s structure that will need addressing in the future.

With lighter and longer evenings, it can be tempting to just dine or live by candlelight. Unfortunately, candles are notoriously unstable and susceptible to any slight breeze or draught. Leave them unattended for just a few minutes and they can topple, ignite nearby fabrics or furnishings or burst out of their surround.

Candle fires can lead to extensive losses, whether they melt down your bath’s plastic or ignite a whole room before you discover what’s happened. Should you suffer a candle fire, get expert help from a loss assessor immediately, as your claim will be a long-haul one.

Stay safe, keep on top of maintenance and be vigilant and you may not require this guidance this summer. However, not all home insurance claims or commercial property insurance claims can be nipped in the bud or avoided and are just down to sheer bad luck.

Should you find yourself on the wrong end of that, remember that a loss adjuster is there to contain costs for the insurer and is not there on your doorstep armed with the brief to help you gain your rightful entitlement from your insurance policy. Be wise, appoint your own representative and have the peace of mind of knowing you did all you could to access the amount of cover that your insurance policy should have provided.

For further help with these, and other property damage and home insurance claim scenarios, call Property Claim Assist on 0333 577 2720.