Water Damage Hits UK Homeowners for £707m Per Year

In the last five years alone, over four million people across the UK have experienced damage to their property because of an escape of water from a neighbour ’s home.

This is according to the latest research from Direct Line Home Insurance.

An unlucky 1.5 million have experienced this more than once.  
 
Each year, an estimated 800,000 people have to deal with the problem of water escaping from a neighbouring property. This results in a bill of £707 million each year2 for repairs to damage caused by water seeping in from a neighbour’s property, working out as £858 on average per incident. One in seven have had to fork out over £1,500 to repair the damage, while one in twenty have spent more than £2,000.
 
Unfortunately, the first time many are aware that their neighbour is having plumbing issues is the point when water starts leaking into their property (43%), often when it has already caused significant damage. In fact, people are more likely to be the one notifying their neighbour of the leak (29%) than being notified by their neighbour (8%).
 
Not having access to the problem property resulted in one in 16 calling the police out to enter their neighbour’s home. Some went straight to the source of the problem either by turning off the water supply to their neighbour’s property themselves (11%) or asking the water board to turn off the supply (8%).
 
When asked how they dealt with water leaking in from their neighbour’s property, around a quarter (27%) put a bucket underneath the leak, while a fifth (21%) tried to patch it up or temporarily resolve it themselves, potentially risking further damage. One in six (17%) called out a plumber to deal with the leak, preferring to rely on the experts.

If someone in England or Wales needs to enter a property causing a leak and the resident isn’t home, they should call the police as they can affect entry under the auspices of the ‘Police and Criminal Evidence Act’ on the grounds of ‘preventing serious damage to property’.

In Scotland, council guidance recommends they should be called if a householder can’t contact their neighbour, “if you can't contain the water leak until your neighbour returns, we may be able to force entry to the flat above to stop the leak.”3 Members of the public should not attempt to enter another person’s property, even if they feel compelled to do so because water is leaking into their home.

Read more: Property Reporter