Home insurance is a product designed to give you financial protection from damage caused to your property by any number of events. There are things you can control such as fire and theft, and things that you can't such as extremes of weather. Whilst there are things that you can do to reduce the damage that the weather causes, there is nothing you can do to stop it completely.



One of the biggest problems for homeowners and insurance companies is subsidence. It is one of the msot difficult issues to remedy and cannot be completely fixed. There are over 3 million homes in the UK that suffer from subsidence problems, and as many as one in fifty houses in London and the South-East have ground related issues.

The term subsidence refers to the shifting of the ground beneath your house. This can be caused by any number of factors ranging from the nature of the soil and its water content to underground mines. Subsidence is an enormous issue because unless the entire property drops exactly equally it puts massive stress on the building above it as one side of the foundations drops and the other stays at the same level.

The most significant symptom of subsidence is cracking around window and door frames. In addition you can get diagonal cracks on the outside brickwork, and these are particularly problematic because water can get into these cracks and freeze, driving them further apart. The major problem with subsidence is that you only know that you've got it once these cracks appear.

If you have cracks in your house, however, you shouldn't be too worried as most newly built houses and extensions experience cracking as the house settles under its own weight.

There is very little you can to do avoid subsidence. When you buy a property make sure that you have a thorough building survey done as this should spot signs of subsidence early and tell you how severe a problem it could develop into.

The one thing that you can do is make sure that you clear trees and shrubs away from near your house. The roots can get in under the house and draw water from the soil causing it to move slightly, this can cause or exacerbate a subsidence problem.

All home insurance policies will cover for subsidence and for the costs of repair. If you live in an area with a heavy clay presence in the soil you may be at risk of subsidence, and if you do it is more important than ever that you have a good home insurance policy. It won't necessarily be expensive and could save you a massive amount of money should you develop a subsidence problem. If you're looking for a good deal try a company like Co-Operative Finance for some good policies at the moment.