What can invalidate house insurance? Common mistakes that put your claim at risk

The most common risks to your cover are giving your insurer wrong information and not telling it about changes. Leaving your home empty too long, missing security conditions and making a dishonest claim can also put cover at risk. Each one has a different effect. Some can cancel the whole policy. Others only reduce what you are paid, or rule out one kind of claim.

Separate from these, every policy has exclusions and limits. Wear and tear, gradual damage and pests are excluded from most policies. They do not invalidate your cover, but they can defeat a claim for that type of damage.

This guide explains each problem, what the law allows an insurer to do, and how to check your own policy before you need to claim.

What happens if your insurer says you broke the policy

For most home insurance bought for personal use, the ‘Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012’ sets out what an insurer can do if you gave it wrong or incomplete information. Your duty is to take reasonable care not to mislead the insurer. The outcome depends on how the mistake happened:

• an honest mistake made with reasonable care: the insurer has no remedy under the Act, and your cover continues as normal
• a careless mistake: the insurer is put in the position it would have been in with the right information
• a deliberate or reckless misrepresentation: the insurer can cancel the policy from the start, refuse all claims and normally keep the premiums

A careless mistake can have 3 outcomes:

• if the insurer would not have offered cover at all, it can cancel the policy and refuse claims, but it must return your premiums
• if it would have offered cover on different terms, such as an extra exclusion, the policy is treated as if those terms applied
• if it would have charged a higher premium, it can reduce your claim in proportion

For example, if the correct premium would have been double what you paid, the insurer can pay half the claim.

There is a second protection. Under section 11 of the ‘Insurance Act 2015’, some policy conditions exist to reduce a particular kind of loss. If you did not comply with one of these, the insurer cannot always rely on that breach to refuse a claim. It cannot do so if you can show the breach could not have increased the risk of the loss that actually happened. The official notes to the Act give an example. A failure to fit the window locks a policy requires should not defeat a claim for flood damage.

Our guide to your duty of disclosure and what you must tell your insurer covers the questions insurers ask and how to answer them.

Common mistakes that can invalidate home insurance

Not telling your insurer about changes

Your policy was priced on the answers you gave when you took it out or last renewed it. If something material changes, check your policy conditions. Many require you to tell the insurer during the year, not just at renewal. Common examples are:

• a change in who lives in the property
• a new conviction for anyone in the household
• changes to the building, such as a new roof covering
• a change in how the property is used

If you are unsure whether something matters, tell your insurer and ask it to confirm in writing.

Leaving your home unoccupied for too long

Most policies restrict cover once a home has been empty for a set period. The limit varies between insurers. It is often between 30 and 60 days in a row. After that, cover for risks such as escape of water, theft and malicious damage may be reduced or excluded.

Check how your policy defines ‘unoccupied’. Some wordings treat a home as unoccupied when nobody sleeps there, even if someone visits during the day. Some insurers set conditions for empty homes, such as turning off the water or keeping the heating on in winter. If you will be away for a long time, or the home is empty while it is being sold or after a death, tell your insurer before the limit is reached.

Taking in lodgers or letting your home

A standard home insurance policy assumes you live in the home with your family. Taking in a lodger, renting out a room on a short-let platform or letting the whole property changes the risk. Insurers often restrict theft cover when someone you have invited into the home is involved. Tell your insurer before anyone moves in. You may need a different policy if you let the whole property.

Building work and renovations

Tell your insurer before major work starts. This includes extensions, loft conversions, structural changes and any period when the home will be empty or unsecured. Many policies limit cover while building work is under way, and damage caused by the work itself is commonly excluded.

Once the work is finished, update your sum insured. An extension or new bathroom increases the cost of rebuilding your home. If your buildings sum insured is too low, the insurer may reduce your claim in proportion. Our guide to underinsurance and the average clause explains how that calculation works.

Running a business from home

Most home policies accept ordinary office work at home for an employer. Running a business is different. Storing stock, seeing clients at home, employing staff or keeping business equipment usually needs to be disclosed, and may need separate business cover. If you do not disclose it, the insurer may treat it as a misrepresentation under the rules above.

Not meeting security conditions

Some policies require locks of a specified standard on external doors and windows, or require an alarm to be set when the home is empty. These conditions usually appear in the policy schedule or the theft section. If the condition was not met, the insurer may refuse a theft claim.

The condition should not affect an unrelated claim, such as a burst pipe, because of the protection in section 11 described above.

Exaggerated or dishonest claims

Under section 12 of the ‘Insurance Act 2015’, if you make a fraudulent claim, the insurer does not have to pay any of it. That includes the genuine part. It can also recover money already paid on that claim and end the policy from the date of the fraud. Adding items you did not own, inflating values or including old damage in a new claim can all be treated as fraud. Claim only for loss you can support, and say so when you are unsure about a value or date.

Exclusions that can defeat a claim without invalidating your policy

An exclusion does not cancel your cover. It means the policy was never designed to pay for that type of loss. The most common are listed below.

Wear and tear and gradual damage

Home insurance covers sudden, unexpected events. It does not pay for the normal ageing of a property, such as worn carpets, perished seals or corroded pipes. Damage that develops slowly, such as a small leak that rots a floor over months, is also usually excluded.

The line between sudden and gradual is often disputed. A pipe can fail suddenly because it was old. If your insurer says damage is wear and tear or gradual, ask it to explain the evidence it relied on. Our guide to the indemnity principle explains how insurers decide what a fair settlement is when older items are damaged.

Damage that existed before your claim

Insurers will not pay for damage that was already there before the insured event. On a claim, the insurer may appoint a loss adjuster to inspect the property. If they find long-standing damp, old staining or decay, the insurer may say some or all of the damage was pre-existing.

That does not always mean the whole claim fails. If a sudden event caused new damage on top of an existing problem, the new damage may still be covered. Photographs of your home in good condition and records of past repairs help show what changed.

Poor maintenance

Insurers expect you to keep your home in a reasonable state of repair. If damage happened because a known problem was left unrepaired, such as a slipped roof tile or a blocked gutter, the insurer may refuse that claim. A maintenance exclusion applies to the damage it caused. It does not usually affect claims for unrelated events.

Pests and vermin

Most UK policies exclude damage caused by rats, mice, squirrels, insects and other vermin, and the cost of removing them. Some home emergency add-ons include pest control for specific species, often wasps, hornets or rodents. Check the add-on wording for what is included.

Damage that a pest leads to can be treated differently. If a rodent chews through a cable and causes a fire, the fire damage may be covered even though the chewed cable and the pest removal are not. This depends on your policy wording.

Limits that reduce what you are paid

Limits do not stop a claim. They cap what the insurer pays. The most common are:

• a single article limit, which caps the amount for any one item that you have not listed separately
• a valuables limit, which caps the total for items such as jewellery, watches and art
• limits for items kept in the garden or in sheds and outbuildings, sometimes with a condition that outbuildings are locked
• personal possessions cover, which is often an optional extra and is needed for items you take out of the home
• the sum insured for buildings and contents, which should match the full cost of rebuilding your home and replacing your belongings

The amounts vary widely between insurers and policy levels. Your policy schedule lists the figures that apply to you. If an item is worth more than the single article limit, list it separately with your insurer.

How to check your own policy

1. Read your policy schedule, which shows your sums insured, limits, excess and any extra conditions that apply to your home.
2. Read the general conditions section of the policy booklet, which sets out what you must tell the insurer and when.
3. Read the exclusions section, including any exclusions listed under each type of cover.
4. Check for endorsements, which are extra terms added to your policy, often about security, unoccupancy or the type of property.
5. Write down anything that has changed since you took out the policy and tell your insurer about it.
6. Keep the insurer’s written confirmation with your policy documents.

If your claim is refused or reduced

An insurer’s first decision is not always final. Ask the insurer to put its decision in writing, with the policy wording and the evidence it relied on. Check whether the reason is an exclusion, a breach of a condition or a disclosure issue, because each is treated differently under the rules above.

If you disagree, make a complaint to the insurer. It normally has up to 8 weeks to send a final response. If you are unhappy with that response, or the insurer has not replied in time, you can take the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. You must do this within 6 months of the final response. The Ombudsman’s service is free to use.

Our guide to a home insurance claim that has been denied or disputed covers the next steps in more detail.

Speak to PCLA before you claim

PCLA is an independent loss assessor, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. We work for policyholders, not insurers, across Northern Ireland and Scotland’s Central Belt.

If you have property damage and are unsure whether something in your policy affects your claim, we can review the policy information you have and explain the likely claim position. The insurer makes the final decision on cover. If you appoint us, we assess the damage, prepare the evidence and present your claim through to settlement.