Insurance and liability
Making a Storm Damage Claim: Evidence, Timing and Payouts
A storm damage claim succeeds on evidence gathered before anything is repaired: dated photographs, recorded wind data for that day, and a contractor's written assessment separating the damage from the roof's prior condition. Check what the evidence and process requires of you here, then book a survey to record the condition.
A storm damage claim succeeds on evidence gathered before anything is repaired. Five stages, in this order, and the second is the one people skip.
Next: Make safe.
Five things that decide how it goes
- Gust data Recorded wind speed for the date and location is publicly obtainable, and it engages the policy's own storm definition directly.
- A loss adjuster Attends larger claims on the insurer's behalf. Smaller claims settle without one.
- Whose contractor Policies vary on whether the insurer's approved contractor must be used.
- Secondary damage Internal damage caused by the ingress forms part of the same claim.
- After a decline An internal complaint first, then the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Pre-existing condition is the commonest ground for refusal, so an assessment that addresses the covering's prior condition directly is far stronger than one that leaves it unmentioned.
This page is general information about how the rules apply, not legal advice. Confirm your own position with the authority named below before work starts. The authority here is your insurer.
3 related pages cover this in more depth: Storm Damage Roof Repair in Birmingham and the Black Country, emergency roof repair birmingham and does buildings insurance cover roof repairs.
What should you do first after storm damage?
Photograph every elevation and all internal damage before touching anything, arrange temporary protection to prevent further loss, notify your insurer within the period the policy states, and obtain a written cause assessment from a roofing contractor.
- Make safe, document, notify, assess, then repair.
- Carried out first, normally recoverable, and does not prejudice the claim.
What evidence does a storm claim need?
Four things: dated photographs taken before any clearance, recorded wind data for the date and location, a contractor's written assessment of what failed and why, and evidence of the roof's condition before the event where available.
- The wind speed record is recorded gust data for the date and location supports the storm definition; the most common reason a storm claim is refused.
Does making the roof safe affect the claim?
No. Insurers expect owners to mitigate further loss, and reasonable make-safe costs are normally recoverable. Leaving a roof open to avoid prejudicing a claim causes additional damage that insurers routinely decline.
Insurers require prompt notification, with periods stated in the policy. Policies vary on whether the insurer's approved contractor must be used.
- Loss adjuster role: attends larger claims on the insurer's behalf; smaller claims settle without one
Why are storm claims declined?
Storm claims are declined most often on the ground that the damage reflects pre-existing deterioration rather than the weather. An assessment that addresses the covering's prior condition directly is substantially stronger than one describing only the loss.
The scope is internal damage from ingress forms part of the same claim; the declined claim is internal complaint, then the Financial Ombudsman Service.
- Documentation before clearance preserves the evidence the claim depends on.
What can you do if a claim is refused?
Request the decision in writing with its reasons, submit a formal complaint through the insurer's own process, and refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service if the complaint is not resolved satisfactorily.
- Recorded gust data supports the policy's storm definition.
- A pre-existing condition is the most common ground for a decline.
- A declined claim can be escalated internally and then to the ombudsman.
The assessment is what the insurer actually reads.
What a cause assessment contains
Assessments that ignore the covering's prior condition invite the standard decline; assessments that address it directly are far stronger. Recorded wind data for the date and location is available and directly engages the policy's own storm definition. The instinct to clear debris destroys the evidence, and the moment cannot be recovered.
Getting damage documented
Internal complaint then the ombudsman is a real process most owners do not know exists.
Cause assessment, and 5 more
- cause assessment
- loss adjuster
- make-safe
- gust record
- secondary damage
- notification period
Read next
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