Home insurance for subsidence

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Start your subsidence claim

You should let your home insurance provider know when you are getting a quote for a new or renewed buildings insurance policy.

Repairing subsidence damage can be costly, but having home insurance can help with the expense and give you peace of mind.

The most common signs of subsidence include:

• Diagonal stepped cracks in walls - Spread diagonally or stepped across brickwork, usually wider at the top than at the bottom
• Doors and windows – sticking or misaligned, or gaps appearing around the frame
• Separation – skirting boards coming away from the wall,
• Gaps appearing between an extension and the main building
• Sinking floor – sloping floors can indicate ground movement
• Wrinkled wallpaper - Rippling or rutting of paper on walls in corners or around window and door openings

Unlikely signs of subsidence

• Most horizontal cracking
• Minor hairline spider web cracks in a random pattern, this is most likely de-bonded plaster or render
• Cracking within brickwork above windows forming a pyramid style pattern, typically due to lack or absence of support above a window or lintel failure
• Cracks that are even and consistent in width and not diagonal, most likely shrinkage and thermal, commonly found between joining plasterboards
• Cracking to UPVC or timber door frames at the junction where they are fixed to walls, likely due to long term use of the door or shrinkage of sealants
• Damp on internal walls, this is not caused by subsidence.

If you think your property may be affected by subsidence, here’s what to do:

1. Let your insurer know as soon as you can so they can start your claim.
2. Take photos of any cracks or affected areas.
3. Measure and record any changes, such as the width of cracks, and note the date.
4. Your insurer will usually arrange an inspection, often by a surveyor or structural engineer.
   
   

If you’re not insured, you’ll need to arrange this assessment yourself.

1. The specialist will put together a report and may monitor the movement over several weeks to understand the cause. Common causes include clay soil shrinkage, tree roots and leaking drains.
2. Once the cause is confirmed, the next step is to fix the underlying issue and repair the damage.

Contents cover protects your belongings in the property. At Ageas, we’ll cover you for damage to the contents in your buildings as a result of subsidence, ground heave or landslip.

Yes, standard building insurance policies should cover subsidence. At Ageas, we’ll cover you for damage to your buildings as a result of subsidence, ground heave or landslip.

Common causes of subsidence include: shrinking clay soil that a property is built on, tree roots and blocked or damaged drains or pipes.

While not all cases of subsidence can be prevented, managing nearby trees and shrubs that you own and maintaining gutters and pipes to prevent leaks can reduce your risk.

Typically, a tree that is closer in distance to a property than its height (e.g. a 10m tree only 5m from a property), could potentially cause subsidence on a clay sub-soil.

What’s the difference between subsidence and settlement?

• Settlement usually happens in new buildings as the ground beneath compresses under the weight of them. This is the downward movement of a building due to compression of the soil beneath it rather than changes in the ground. It is different to subsidence, because it’s caused by the weight of the property, rather than the soil changing underneath your property.
• Subsidence is the downward movement of the ground underneath your buildings.

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