UK’s biggest insurer hit by rise in subsidence claims after record hot summer
Summary
Aviva and other UK insurers have reported more subsidence claims after two record-hot summers. Subsidence occurs when dry soil shrinks beneath a home and shifts its foundations; the average UK claim reached £20,000 from April to June.Key Facts
- Aviva said claims peaked from July to September and continued into October, but did not disclose the size of the increase.
- Hastings Direct said its subsidence claims in August were up 140% from a year earlier, a record for the company.
- Axa described the year as a surge year for subsidence claims.
- The average UK subsidence claim reached £20,000 from April to June, more than £2,000 above the same period a year earlier.
- Insurers paid £72 million for domestic subsidence claims from April to June, compared with £60 million in the same period the previous year.
- The British Geological Survey estimates that more than 4.2 million UK homes could be at risk of subsidence by 2070.
- Homes with shallow foundations and those on clay-rich soil face greater risk, with London, Essex, Kent and areas near Oxford among the vulnerable locations.
- Aviva reported a 19% rise in general insurance premiums to £11.8 billion in the third quarter.
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