Guidance for a property insurance claim

This guidance page is dedicated to helping you understand what to expect when making a property insurance claim on behalf of your organisation. It provides the information and support you'll need as we endeavour to make your claims experience as collaborative, personal, clear and effortless as possible.

Escape of water

If you have an escape of water, you'll need to find your stop tap and turn it off immediately.

What to expect when you make a claim

What do we need to make a claim?

Things to consider when making a claim

Useful claims guides

At Zurich, we aim to settle straight forward claims of £3,000 and under within 24 hours, where possible.

To do this we will need:

  • your details
  • your policy number (and schedule if placed through a broker or other intermediary),
  • policyholder’s date of birth and a note of 5 year address history
  • payee details, including VAT status
  • any supporting documentation of ownership (we appreciate this may not be possible in all cases).

Incident details

  • Information about when the loss occurred, what has been damaged/lost and where the incident took place
  • digital photos of the damage in question
  • details of any third party who may have been responsible for causing the damage
  • a crime reference number if the loss or damage has been reported to the police.

Repair details

Confirmation of costs to repair, replace or remedy the damage in question. This could be one written estimate or one weblink.

If you have difficulty getting an estimate for repair or replacement, our suppliers should be able to help.

We appreciate making a claim can be a daunting, so if you need help with any of the above, give one of our expert claims handlers a call on 01252 387 249

We may record or monitor calls to improve our service.

At Zurich, we want to be clear on situations that may arise which may not be covered under your policy. It’s important to check your policy documents for the specific exclusions on your policy.

Our policies are designed to protect you against the risk of things happening unexpectedly such as fire, theft, flood and storm.

There are however limits to what we’ll and cover and what we won’t.

It is not a substitute for proper upkeep or for things wearing out, breaking down or failing because of lack of maintenance.

What is wear and tear?

All buildings will gradually deteriorate over time through exposure to the elements, while contents deteriorate through their daily usage.

As a result of this, most policies will have a wear and tear exclusion that means any damage caused naturally over a period of time would not be covered. As an example this means that we will not provide cover for things such as defective rendering, repointing chimneys or general roof maintenance.

The guttering on my property is broken - will I be covered?

All buildings will gradually deteriorate over time through exposure to the elements, while contents deteriorate through their daily usage.

If over time the guttering on a property becomes worn and breaks it would need to be replaced by the policyholder. This is because the damage has occurred as part of the buildings normal usage and has not been caused by an insured peril. If, however the guttering was in a good condition but was broken by extreme storm conditions, the insurance policy would cover the damage.

It is also worth knowing that most items of contents are covered on a new for old basis except for clothing and household linen where deductions for wear and tear may also apply. This means that in the event of a claim you may not receive the full amount for those items that it would cost to replace the item as new.

Wear and tear may occur to anyone’s property or belongings over time through ordinary use. It is your responsibility to keep your home and contents in a good state of repair.