Home Emergency Insurance is designed to cover home owners against emergencies that occur in their home that leave them without essential utilities like gas, electricity and water, or leave their home insecure in some way. Generally speaking the cover is there is provide and pay for an approved tradesman to restore the service or make the home secure. This is type of cover is not widely provided by all the major insurers but there is still a competitive, albeit small market for consumers. The cover is usually only available to homeowners.
As mentioned previously the cover provides for emergencies where your property is without essential utilities like lighting, heating and water. This means things like broken down boilers and burst pipes or electrical faults. The covers normally extend to others areas that make the property uninhabitable like a pest infestation. Another common reason is lost keys, which means the property cannot be entered without making it insecure.
If the worst happens then the insurer provides a 24-hour emergency line. Once the emergency is reported then the insurer will make provision for a registered skilled tradesman to rectify the problem. The policy will usually guarantee that this is provided within a set timescale.
There is normally a limit on the amount that is covered for the cost of repairs required in an emergency. The amount can vary and is usually in the range of £500 to £1000 as of January 2005. There will be some exceptions. For example, utilities like boilers must be inspected regularly (usually every year) to qualify for the cover and be up to a certain state of repair. For example, not older than 10 years. These conditions will obviously vary from policy to policy. These policies do not cater for day-to-day repairs and maintenance.