What you may claim

Press, 17 March 1977, Page 26

What you may claim

Adequate cover for plumbing fittings and damage caused by plumbing malfunctions are provided in to basic types of domestic insurance policy.

This first is a home owner's policy designed to protect the structure of the home; the second is a householder’s policy which insures the contents, such as furniture and clothes. Both policies are available from some insurance companies on the one piece of paper. Most people, however, prefer separate policies with the home owner’s policy being lodged with the mortgagee as security. It is also easier to deal with separate policies when the house is being bought or sold. The home owner’s policy covers damage caused by water overflowing from a bath, rot in the structure of the house caused, for example, by water leaking from a ruptured pipe, or even replacement of a toilet bowl if it has been damaged, say, by a small child (toilet seats are usually excluded from cover). In fact, most damage to the structure of the house or fittings attached to the house structure is covered by the home owner’s policy as long as the damage is accidental. A distinction is made, however, between fittings and contents.

Fittings are items attached to the house structure and are not usually movable. Examples are lino glued to the floor, a wash basin screwed to a wall, or a bathtub which forms an integral part of tthe bathroom.

Contents, on the other hand, are such items as clothes, furniture and ornaments, and are covered under the householder’s policy. If breakage to other plumbing items does occur it should be reported to an insurance company immediately. It will generally recommend that you go straight ahead with repairs. It may even recommend a plumber to do the work.

The criteria for claiming under the householder’s policy are the same for the houseowner’s policy. Generally, then, all items in a bathroom, from handbasins and pipes to watches and rings irretrievably lost down the waste pipes, can be covered by eome sort of home insurance policy.