How long do home insurance claims take?

If you’re claiming on your home or contents insurance for the first time, you’re probably wondering how long your insurance claim will take. Even if it’s not your first home insurance claim, making a claim can be a stressful experience and you’ll want to know when the stress of the claims process will be over so you can get your life back to normal.

So how long do home insurance claims take?

A home insurance claim could take several months or several years, depending on a number of factors such as the size of the property, the type of damage incurred, the extent of the damage, the availability of contractors, and the individuals involved.

Ultimately, there is no way to know for sure. Home insurance is a complex area and, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI), home insurance claims are the most likely to be rejected due to their complexity. It’s probably not the answer you wanted to hear, but every insurance claim is different and therefore so is the time it takes for each claim to be processed.

The home insurance claims process

Whether from a fire or a burst water pipe, there is usually a significant amount of damage in a home insurance claim – sometimes to the point that the property may not be safe to inhabit for a certain length of time. Generally speaking, a home insurance claim can take anywhere from 48 hours to over a year to be settled, and it all depends on a number of factors.

Firstly, the time taken to process your home insurance claim will depend on the type of damage being claimed for. This doesn’t necessarily depend on the extent of the damage, but it does depend on the complexity of restoring the affected parts of the property and repairing or replacing its contents. For example, it might be much quicker to replace furniture damaged by a large fire than it is to fix structural flaws exposed by minor water damage, even though the damage is more visible in the former.

Secondly, the time it takes to process the insurance claim will depend on the number of people involved. A home insurance claim usually involves, at the very least, the Insurer and a Loss Adjuster. The Loss Adjuster will visit the property at least once and may want to speak to you several times about the damage before an agreement is made. Once the Loss Adjuster has made an assessment, there may be a need for surveyors, builders or a removal company to help with the claim or begin repairing the damage.

Claiming on your home insurance

If you have to claim on your home insurance, it can be frustrating not knowing how long you will have to wait. If your insurance claim is taking a long time – or perhaps not moving at all – a Loss Assessor can help you through the process to achieve the result you want.

Get in touch or browse our case studies to see how we’ve helped previous clients speed up the insurance claims process.