What policies generally cover
Most buildings policies cover underground pipes and drains that you are legally responsible for, against defined perils such as accidental damage, subsidence, impact and the escape of water. A drain crushed by a delivery lorry on the driveway, or fractured by ground movement, is usually within scope.
What is nearly always excluded is gradual deterioration, wear and tear, and blockage without damage. A hundred year old clay pipe that has slowly opened at the joints has not suffered an insured event, it has aged, and that is the distinction insurers rely on most often.
Where root ingress sits
Root damage is the grey area. Some policies exclude it outright, some cover it where the roots have caused a defined fracture, and some cover the consequential damage but not the pipe repair. The determining evidence is usually whether the footage shows roots entering through a fracture with a mechanical cause or through a slowly opened joint.
This is why the survey should record the defect as well as the roots. A clip showing a root mass tells the insurer nothing about how it got in.
What an insurer or loss adjuster will ask for
- Coded CCTV footage of the full run, not a short clip of the fault.
- Still images of each defect with its distance from the chamber and depth.
- A written report stating the likely cause and, where possible, whether damage is sudden or progressive.
- A costed schedule of repair with the method specified.
- Photographs of any resulting damage inside the property, taken before clean up.
- Dates, so the sequence of events can be established.
Getting the sequence right
Notify the insurer before commissioning major work wherever the situation allows it. Emergency clearance to stop sewage entering the property is almost always accepted as reasonable mitigation, and you should keep that invoice. Full excavation and replacement carried out before the insurer has been told is where policyholders most often end up funding the work themselves.
If the insurer wants to appoint their own contractor, the survey you commissioned still matters, because it is the independent record of the condition on the day the problem arose.
Subsidence and drainage together
A leaking drain washing out fine material from under a foundation is a recognised cause of subsidence, particularly in areas with sandy or made up ground, and much of central Scotland has both from historic mining and industrial use. Where a subsidence claim is being investigated, the insurer will almost always want a drainage survey as part of it.
In those cases the survey is worth doing thoroughly, including tracing, because establishing whether the drain caused the movement or the movement broke the drain determines who pays for what.
How we handle claim work
We produce reports formatted for insurers and loss adjusters, with the footage, the coded observations, the depths and a costed schedule. We will address the report to the insurer or the adjuster directly if you ask when booking, and we are content to speak to an adjuster about what the footage shows.
We also make clear where a defect is honestly age related rather than sudden. Overstating a cause on paper does not help anyone once an adjuster watches the same footage.
Practical steps in the first 24 hours
Photograph everything before you clean up, including the standing water, the affected rooms and the chamber levels. Note the times. Keep every invoice, including the emergency attendance, because reasonable mitigation is normally recoverable even where the wider claim is disputed.
Then notify the insurer and ask specifically whether they want to appoint a contractor or whether you should commission the survey yourself. Getting that answer in writing early is what prevents the argument later about who authorised what, and it costs nothing but a phone call.
Finally, keep everything in one place. Claims involving drainage often run for months, and the policyholders who settle quickly are almost always the ones who can send the footage, the report, the dated photographs and the invoices in a single email when the adjuster asks.
Questions we get asked
Will insurance pay for a blocked drain?
Usually not on its own. Blockage without damage is normally excluded, though resulting damage inside the property may be covered.
Should I clear the drain before claiming?
Yes if sewage is entering the property. Emergency mitigation is expected, so keep the invoice and the photographs.
Does the insurer have to use my survey?
They may appoint their own contractor, but an independent coded survey with footage remains valid evidence of the condition and cause.
Is root damage covered?
It depends on the policy wording and on whether the roots entered through a fracture. Footage showing the entry defect is what decides it.