Types of damage cover included in your home insurance

• Storm damage – Hail, wind, rain, and snow can all cause damage to your home: from fallen trees, to roof damage and loss of power.
  
  Most home insurance policies will cover the cost of repairs and give you a safe place to stay (if you can't stay in your home while repair work is ongoing). However, insurers are usually quite picky about what counts as a storm. For example, your provider might only consider it a 'storm' if winds reach 55 miles per hour - check your policy documentation.
  
  On top of this, you may have to prove that the damage was completely due to the storm, and not partly due to wear and tear. Learn more in our Storm or flood damage guide.
  
  
• Subsidence – Subsidence happens when the ground beneath your house shifts, causing the foundations to move. This in turn can cause cracks in the walls and make the building itself unstable.
  
  Subsidence damage is normally covered as standard in your buildings insurance policy, but only if your home HAS NEVER suffered from subsidence before. You'll normally be able to claim for the cost of repairs for damage caused by subsidence, but not the cost of making sure it doesn't happen again.
  
  
• Criminal damage – Criminal damage (also known as 'malicious damage') is any deliberate damage to your property caused by someone outside of your household – either by criminals or any tenants, lodgers or guests. This could be caused by someone smashing your windows, graffitiing your property, digging up your lawn, or even arson.
  
  If you've been the victim of criminal or malicious damage to your house, the first thing you should do is report it to the police. They will look into your issue, and give you a crime reference number that you can give to your insurance provider. Our Burglary home insurance guide has some useful info on what to do if you've been burgled, for instance.
  
  Often your provider will be keen to help you get damage such as broken windows and doors fixed quickly to ensure there's no ongoing security risk.
  
  Important: You will usually not be covered for criminal damage if you leave your home unoccupied for more than 30 days at a time. Read our Unoccupied home insurance guide for more info.
  
  
• Flood damage – Cover for damage caused by flood water coming into your house comes as standard with most home insurance policies, even if you live in a high-risk area (such as close to a river).
  
  In 2016, the Association of British Insurers launched the Flood Re scheme to help insurance providers offer reasonable home insurance options to those living in high-flood-risk areas. When you make a claim for flood damage, your insurer can claim back some of their costs from the Flood Re fund. This reduces their financial risk, and means they can offer more affordable cover options.
  
  However, if you do live in a high-risk area, make sure you check the terms of your cover carefully as there will occasionally be additional exclusions or higher excesses added to your policy.
  

Got a particularly expensive claim? Hiring a loss assessor may make sense. This is an insurance claim expert who can help you make the best claim possible – read our Loss assessors guide for more info.