Home Emergency Insurance – Beware The Peril Hidden Under Your Garden!
When we hear talk about hidden dangers in houses, we think automatically about things like unprotected fires, or badly fitted electrical items and the like. We never associate things that we can not see that are built underneath our properties, for which we are responsible should they go wrong. Unfortunately, it is only when they go wrong, and we are left counting the cost, that we wish we had a Tardis like Dr Who and we could go back in time and correct our mistakes, like assuming that our standard house insurance covered everything when we really should have taken out home emergency insurance to plug the holes in our cover.
It is safe to assume that even today; the majority of homeowners do not realize that they are responsible for the water service pipe from the water company’s stop tap into the house. This pipe is called the Supply Pipe.
Not so long ago, some elderly neighbours of ours noticed that there garden was becoming flooded, even at a time when there was no rain. They had prodded about in the garden but found nothing untoward. It was only when we pointed out to them that water was now starting to come up through the pavement outside their bungalow that they started to become worried.
They called their water company who sent out a man with a rather strange looking rod. Evidently this man could place the end of this rod on the ground and press his ear to the other end and `hear` if there was a leak. Now this seemed far fetched to us, but evidently it was standard procedure these days.
A few days later, our neighbours received a letter from their water company telling them that there was a leak between the stop tap and the house, in the service pipe and that they would need to dig up the pipe to repair it. Moreover, it would be their responsibility to pay for the repair! They were horrified. They checked with the Citizens Advice and it was correct, pointing out that if they had Home Emergency Insurance, it would be covered under that policy.
They did not have that cover and consequently, the pipe was dug up and repaired. They were presented with a bill for £800!
Needless to say that after their experience, we swiftly took out a policy and were pleasantly surprised at how little cost was involved in covering this type of eventuality under the umbrella of Home Emergency Insurance.