How soon can you claim on home insurance after taking the policy out?

Quotezone’s independent comparison tool makes finding your ideal home insurance easy, but what happens if you’ve taken out a policy and quickly find it necessary to make a claim?  Will you be allowed to make a claim so soon, and how should you go about this? How soon can you claim on home insurance?

What are the rules about claiming on your home insurance after taking out a new policy?

You may be worrying about how soon you can claim on home insurance if you’ve found yourself needing to make a claim soon after taking out the policy. Luckily, with many insurers, once you’re at or beyond the policy start date, you can make a claim – even if the home incident happened within hours of that start.

Be careful not to confuse the policy start date with the date you paid for your insurance, as the start date may be later.

Might there be an exclusion period on my home insurance policy?

Your insurer will tell you if there is an exclusion period on your home insurance policy.  An exclusion period is a set timeframe where you aren’t allowed to make a claim after taking out the policy.

Exclusion periods are present on certain policies to discourage fraudulent claims but are less common on home insurance policies, where claims can generally be made from the start date. As such, the answer to the question, when can you claim on home insurance? is straight after the policy starts.

When can you claim on home insurance?

Once you’ve checked that you’re past your policy start date and free of any exclusion periods, your best move is to make a claim as quickly as possible. 

The time frame for making a claim varies from insurer to insurer, with some asking for claims to be made within 30 days, and others allowing you up to 12 months.

When should you make contact with your insurer?

Knowing how soon you can claim on house insurance prevents any hold-ups with your claim, and contacting your insurer as soon as possible is by far the best way to avoid delays.

Many insurers will ask you to make contact with them within 24 hours of the home incident taking place. If you don’t contact your insurer quickly, enabling them to put a plan into action, certain types of damage to your home (such as flooding) could escalate and you may risk receiving the full reimbursement for the cost of repairs and replacements.

Is notifying your insurer the same as making a claim?

Letting your insurer know what has happened in your home is not the same as making a claim. 

If you’re tempted to hold off on notifying your insurer because you’re a new customer – don’t! Notifying your insurer allows you to mitigate losses and will ultimately ensure you have the best chance of full reimbursement when you make your claim once works and replacements are all in order.

Will my claim be refused if I make one too soon?

If you have no exclusion period, you cannot be penalised for claiming soon after your policy was taken out. 

You could not, however, claim for any damage which occurred before the start of your policy.

If you’re ready to find new home insurance, compare quotes now.

This article is intended as generic information only and is not intended to apply to anybody’s specific circumstances, demands or needs. The views expressed are not intended to provide any financial service or to give any recommendation or advice. Products and services are only mentioned for illustrative rather than promotional purposes.