Home emergency cover

What is home emergency cover?

Home emergency cover offers protection for unexpected household emergencies. The level of cover will vary between providers but in most cases, you'll be protected from:

• Faulty heating systems
• Boiler break downs
• Plumbing and drainage issues
• Roof damage
• Failure of power or gas supplies
• Damage to external locks, doors and windows.

In the event of an emergency, you'll need to ring the helpline provided by your insurer, who will send out an approved tradesperson to fix any issue that needs immediate attention.

If you want to use a certain tradesperson to carry out the work, double check that your insurer has approved them, otherwise you might not be covered.

How is emergency cover different to home insurance?

Home insurance policies cover costs incurred as a result of fire, flood or theft to your home, but they won't generally cover emergency situations.

Some home insurance policies include emergency cover as a standard feature, but in most cases it'll need to be bought as an extra. In fact, home emergency cover is one of the most popular extras homeowners add to their insurance policies.

Do I need home emergency cover?

Home emergency cover is only suited to homeowners. If you rent your home then you don't need to worry, as it's your landlord's responsibility to arrange home insurance, as well as emergency cover.

If you're a homeowner and have buildings and contents insurance, make sure you read through the policy documents so you know what you're already covered for. You don't want to end up paying for the same cover twice.

Home emergency cover with Hastings Direct

Our home emergency cover is available as an optional extra with our home insurance policies or as standard with Hastings premier. You'll be covered in the event of a sudden and unforeseen incident at your home which immediately:

• Puts your health, and the health of other people living at your home, at risk.
• Creates a risk of damage or loss to your home.
• Renders your home unfit for people to live in.

Specific features and benefits of our home emergency cover include:

• Sudden damage to, or failure of, your plumbing and drainage system, including blocked drains, leaking pipes, blocked water tanks, and toilet waste pipes blockages.
• Professional extermination and control of pests in your home and within any adjoining buildings.
• Damage to the roof of your home caused by storms, and/or fallen trees and branches.
• Damage caused to outdoor locks, doors and windows, which makes your home insecure.
• Complete failure or breakdown of either the heating and/or hot water supply provided by your primary heating system.

With our home emergency cover, you'll receive timely assistance through a dedicated helpline. We'll pay up to £500 per claim, including parts, labour, material and VAT to carry out an emergency repair. If your home becomes uninhabitable as a result of the emergency, we'll also pay up to £250 for overnight accommodation.

What's not covered?

• Leaking or dripping taps that need replacing or re-washering.
• External overflows or replacements of tanks, cylinders, radiators and sanitary ware.
• Leaking washing appliances fitted with a stop tap.
• Failure of boiling or heating systems that haven't been properly maintained.
• Loss or damage incurred before the start date of the policy.
• Emergencies in a home which hasn't been occupied for over 30 consecutive days.
• Claims made within the first 14 days of the policy start date.

Making a claim

If you need to make a claim, please call us on 0800 633 5088. You'll be asked to describe the emergency, then we'll arrange for a contractor to visit your home and carry out the necessary repairs.