Unoccupied Property Insurance – Take Heed of the Snow

Unoccupied Property Insurance Take Heed of the Snow

Any landlord wondering if they really need unoccupied property insurance, should take heed of the wintry conditions that the country is experiencing at the moment.

Unoccupied property insurance is there to help protect from weather damage and if you think about the amount of snow which has fallen in some parts of the country already this year, then think how much more can follow.

Adverse weather can play havoc with unoccupied property. And water companies are already warning that the snow could be concealing thousands of burst pipes. They have already attended hundreds of call-outs where pipes have burst due to the freezing temperatures.

Furthermore, they are recommending everyone to check their unoccupied home insurance to ensure that their properties have cover against such an occurrence.

The water companies believe that only when snow clears, will the true situation be revealed.

One such utility company, Thames Water, said that it had been getting around 150 reports a day of water pipes which had burst. Scottish Water went onto warn that many problems will be buried for some time underneath all the snow and ice, and that only after a general thaw, will the true horrors of flooded properties emerge.

Scotland has seen some of the worst temperatures, with Altnaharra, in the High Lands, recording a recent record of minus 19C. But many of the countries town and villages have seen temperatures drop to minus six and seven.

Much of the UK's water pipe infra-structure is threatened by cold water and the worries start when the water in the reservoirs reach temperatures of minus five. Although not freezing, this nonetheless very cold water when piped through the system, causes the pipes to contract and reveal hairline cracks, which soon start to develop into larger cracks. The Thames Water pipe network alone runs for a distance of over 20,000 miles.

The problem in properties of course is when the water in the pipe freezes and expands, cracking the pipe and joints. And this is worst in unoccupied properties, because they have no heating to keep the pipes from freezing.

But it's not just the water pipes that comes under pressure. Gas mains ironically suffer not because of the cold in their system (they are laid deep in the ground to avoid that), but because the ground around the pipe can shift in the cold weather and cause a rupture in the iron pipes.

This problem should be solved when the iron pipes are gradually replaced with plastic ones which are more rigid and less vulnerable to ground disturbances.

So this is a very good time of year to check the unoccupied property insurance, before popping around to the house itself and checking all's well.

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