You may have seen the term Escape of Water on your property insurance policy. It is one of the most common types of claim made on such a policy but do you know exactly what escape of water is?
The biggest misconception with this section of cover is that is protects you against all water damage in the home. Well this is certainly not the case. If a flood occurs (for example, a river over flowing its banks) then this would not be classed as escape of water damage but instead as flood damage. Another example would be adverse weather conditions causing damage to the home and then rain gets in a damages the property. This example would be classed as storm damage. Maybe you are carrying a bucket of water through the house and trip and spill it on the floor, this would be classed as accidental damage.
There are many water claims that are nothing to do with the escape of water section of your policy. The true definition of escape of water is when water that has entered your property by the mains water supply has, at some point on its journey within your house, escaped from the pipe or tank that it was in and caused damage to your property. Usually this will mean from a burst pipe.
Most property insurance policies like home insurance and landlord insurance will cover flood, storm and escape of water damage as standard but it is important to know the differences especially when buying the policy. There may be different excesses or terms that apply to each section and certain policies may not be appropriate for what you require. Some policies may not include one of these types of cover which would obviously cause concern on the basis that the protection is not as comprehensive as other policies.
thank you,thats very helpful.