Does Home Insurance Really Cover Subsidence? Myths and Facts

Key things to know

1. Most standard UK buildings policies include subsidence cover as standard, but the policy schedule and endorsements set the exact terms, excess and exclusions.
2. Cover usually pays for structural repairs, investigation costs and alternative accommodation, while fences, patios, garden walls and driveways are usually excluded unless the main house is damaged too.
3. Subsidence claims carry a separate excess, usually £1,000, and cover responds to new damage rather than settlement, pre-existing or gradual movement.
4. The average subsidence settlement reached £17,820 in the first quarter of 2026, a record, according to the ABI, and claims often follow dry weather.
5. A past claim does not leave you uninsurable: your existing insurer will normally continue cover, and a specialist broker can help where standard quotes are hard to find.

Subsidence is one of the most expensive things that can happen to a house, and it tends to follow long dry spells. The Association of British Insurers recorded an average payout of £17,820 for claims settled between January and March 2026, a 9% rise on the same quarter the previous year and a record for the trade body. Despite that, many owners are unclear about what their buildings policy would actually pay for. Here are the common beliefs about subsidence cover, and what the evidence shows.

What Subsidence Actually Is (and How It Differs from Settlement or Heave)

Subsidence happens when the soil supporting a property drops or shifts downwards, taking the foundations with it. The visible signs are large cracks, walls out of line and damage to the structure itself. Clay soils drive much of the problem: prolonged dry weather shrinks them, foundations move, and the wave of claims often arrives a year to eighteen months after the dry spell. When the 2022 heatwave hit, insurers received 18,000 subsidence claims between July and December of that year, according to the ABI.

Two neighbouring terms cause confusion. Settlement is the small, normal downward adjustment a building makes as it beds in, which is common in new builds and is not covered by insurance. Heave is the opposite problem, where the ground moves upward instead of down. Policies that cover subsidence frequently cover heave and landslip alongside it, but the exact list of perils sits in your own policy wording, so check rather than assume.

Myth: Every Buildings Policy Treats Subsidence the Same

Most home insurance policies include subsidence cover as standard, so you often do not need special insurance for it. The exception tends to be homes with a history of subsidence, where a broker may need to arrange specialist cover. Within the standard market, though, policies vary. Excesses, exclusions and the treatment of driveways, patios and garden walls are all areas where policies differ, and the differences only show up if you read the details.

There is a more basic trap. Holding a buildings policy is not the same thing as holding one that covers subsidence, heave and landslip, so read the policy schedule and every endorsement before you buy. Few countries protect private homes against these risks as a matter of course, but the UK does. If you are not sure which policy pays for the walls and which pays for what is inside them, our guide to buildings versus contents insurance sets out where one stops and the other starts.

Worth doing: Before you buy or renew, search the policy schedule and every endorsement for the words subsidence, heave and landslip. That is where an insurer records exactly what your policy does and does not cover.

Fact: What Subsidence Cover Usually Pays For, and What It Doesn’t

A buildings policy with subsidence cover typically pays for repairs to damage caused by the movement, along with investigation costs such as surveys and drainage checks. Under the ABI’s guidance on subsidence, buildings cover generally responds to damage affecting the property’s structure and its outbuildings. If the danger or the repair work means you cannot carry on living in the home, cover for alternative accommodation is typically included.

What is usually left out matters just as much. Fences, patios, garden walls and driveways are generally left out of cover when the house itself has not been affected, and some insurers will not cover them at all in that situation. Damage that shows up as a newly built home settles, and movement that happened before the policy began, sit outside cover completely. And after one subsidence claim, some policies exclude future subsidence claims, which is worth knowing before you decide whether to claim.

Contents insurance does not respond to the structure, though belongings that the movement damages directly can be claimed under a contents policy. The two covers work together, not interchangeably.

Usually covered	Usually not covered
Repairs to the main structure	Fences, patios, garden walls and driveways when the house itself is untouched
Investigation costs, such as surveys and drainage checks	Settlement in new builds
Damage to outbuildings	Pre-existing or gradual movement
Alternative accommodation if you cannot live at home	Some future subsidence claims, after a claim has been made

Myth: Cracks in the Wall Always Mean an Insured Claim

A crack is a symptom, not a diagnosis. Monitoring may ultimately show active subsidence, movement that stopped long ago, the normal seasonal expansion and contraction of building materials, or a different fault entirely. Only some of those outcomes lead to a paid claim, because policies generally respond to new, sudden damage rather than damage that was already there or that built up gradually. Being told to monitor a crack does not confirm that a house is still moving; the readings may show the ground has settled and is no longer shifting, which is a very different conversation with an insurer.

That gap between a worrying crack and an insured loss is where most confusion sits. A structural engineer or surveyor, not the policy, decides what the movement actually is, and the policy then decides what gets paid.

Fact: The Subsidence Excess Is Often Much Higher Than Standard

Most subsidence claims carry an excess of £1,000, and some policies ask for more. A small number of insurers offer subsidence cover with a smaller excess, so the exact figure is worth checking before you buy rather than discovering it mid-claim. This excess sits on top of your standard policy excess and is deducted from the payout.

The number looks less alarming against the scale of a typical claim, since average settlements run well into five figures, but it is still a large sum for most households to find at short notice. It is also one of the easiest parts of a subsidence policy to check in advance.

How a Subsidence Claim Is Handled, Step by Step

The sequence usually runs like this:

1. Tell your insurer as soon as you become aware of the problem. According to BIBA, this kind of cover depends on the insurer being told promptly once the problem comes to light.
2. The insurer investigates. A loss adjuster may be appointed to assess the damage on the insurer’s behalf; our guide to loss adjusters and loss assessors explains who each of them works for.
3. Monitoring and surveys follow. The professionals involved, whether that is the insurer, a loss adjuster, a surveyor or a structural engineer, may fit gauges over cracks, take level measurements, inspect the drains or dig trial holes to establish whether the building is moving, how serious the movement is and whether it comes and goes with the seasons.
4. Expect it to take time. The monitoring stage often runs for months and may need to span more than one season. The Financial Ombudsman Service notes that a proper investigation can sometimes call for more than a year of readings, so that every season is taken into account.
5. Alternative accommodation if you need it. If the danger or the repair work means you cannot stay in the home, that is typically covered.
6. Challenge a decision if you disagree. The Financial Ombudsman Service is a free service set up by Parliament in 2001 that looks into complaints about insurance and can require a business to put things right when a customer has been treated unfairly. Its helpline is 0800 023 4567. Our article on what to do when an insurance claim is rejected sets out the steps.

Myth: A Past Subsidence Claim Means You Can Never Get Insured

An insurer that has handled a subsidence claim on your home will normally continue to cover you, so the practical answer for most owners is to stay put while any monitoring, remedial work and repairs are still under way. Switching insurer purely in search of a cheaper premium can narrow your choices, especially while a claim is still open.

That said, a claim does change the market around you. Premiums can increase at renewal, you may lose some of your no claims bonus, and many insurers will not quote for a previously affected property. Comparison data puts the average yearly premium for a property that has suffered subsidence at £621, with the average claim around £14,442, and London and the south-east of England carry greater risk, which affects cost. If standard quotes are hard to find, a specialist broker can arrange cover, and BIBA can point you to one.

Selling is easier if insurance travels with the house. It is worth looking for an insurer prepared to pass the policy on to whoever buys the property, because a house that comes with cover already in place is much easier to sell. And if you are buying rather than selling, BIBA’s advice is to get a full structural survey, find out when, why and how the subsidence was fixed, and speak to a specialist broker if the property has been underpinned.

Fact: The Checks That Catch Problems Before They Become Claims

You cannot control the weather or the soil, but a few checks are entirely in your hands. Having buildings insurance in place is not optional for most owners: most mortgage lenders make it a condition of the loan. BIBA’s advice is simply to check your policy, because too many homeowners do not have sufficient cover to cope when subsidence or heave strikes, and to make sure the sum insured, excess and price are right, which is where a broker can help.

The other check is the sum insured itself. Subsidence payouts are rising, with the ABI reporting payouts up 11% in the third quarter of 2024 and a record average settlement by early 2026, and repair costs move with them. If your buildings sum was worked out some time ago and building costs have climbed since then, the insurance money may not stretch to the full repair bill. Our article on underinsurance and why claims fall short explains how that happens, and why the rebuild figure matters more than the market value of the house.

Before your next renewal, pull out your policy schedule and check the subsidence section: the excess, the exclusions and whether your sum insured still reflects what a repair would actually cost today.

Questions answered

Does home insurance cover subsidence?
Yes, most standard UK buildings policies cover subsidence as standard, usually with a higher excess and only for new damage rather than pre-existing or gradual movement. Contents policies only respond where movement has directly damaged belongings.

How much is the excess on a subsidence claim?
It is usually £1,000 and is deducted from the payout, though some policies have higher excesses and a small number of insurers offer a smaller one.

Will my premium rise after a subsidence claim?
Claims can increase the premium at renewal, you may lose some of your no claims bonus, and many insurers will not quote for a previously affected property. Your existing insurer will normally continue to cover you.

What should I check before buying a house with a history of subsidence?
Get a full structural survey, find out when, why and how the subsidence was fixed, and speak to a specialist broker if the property has been underpinned.