What to do in the days after a flood

If your home has flooded, the first step is to report the damage to your home insurance company and to stay out of the property until it is safe to return¹. Flood cover is usually a standard part of buildings insurance, but it will not cover your belongings unless you also have contents insurance². If you rent, your landlord arranges the buildings cover and you need contents insurance for your own things³.

Before a loss adjuster visits, use a permanent ink pen to mark the highest level the flood water reached on the walls of each room, take photographs or a video of the damage, and list everything damaged, including food you had to throw away because it was contaminated or had gone off¹. The National Flood Forum has teamed up with the Association of British Insurers to publish a step-by-step guide explaining what to expect when recovering your home after a flood, setting out each stage of the insurance and reinstatement process⁴.

The average cost to repair a flooded home is now in excess of £70,000, according to a Welsh Government consultation report published in November 2025⁵. That figure explains why insurers take flood claims seriously, and why the settlement route they choose matters so much to what you end up with.

What your home insurance covers after a flood

Home insurance is usually made up of two main parts: cover for the building itself and cover for the contents within it⁹. Flood insurance, sometimes called flood risk insurance, can cover your home and its contents if they are damaged or destroyed by floods². A typical buildings policy provides cover, at least in principle, for damage caused by floodwater entering your home from an external source, including a river or canal bursting its banks, storms and high tides, and heavy rainfall³.

What you may be able to get from a claim includes flood damaged items replaced, professional help to clean up, and temporary alternative accommodation if you need to move out while your home is being repaired¹. Shelter advises checking whether your insurance covers repair costs if your home is flooded, replacing your belongings, another place to stay, and legal cover and legal advice¹⁰.

If you own your home, you are usually responsible for repairs due to flood damage¹⁰. If you rent, the split is different: your landlord is responsible for arranging buildings insurance, while you need a home contents policy for your personal belongings³. Tenants with contents insurance should contact their insurer, say the home was flooded and ask to make a claim for contents¹.

Flood cover is usually included as standard with buildings insurance and is widely available, even for homes in high-risk areas⁶. That said, if you live in a high-risk flood area or your home has flooded in the past, the quotes you are offered by some insurers may exclude flood cover or add a high excess³. It is worth checking the policy schedule rather than assuming.

Where flood cover stops: groundwater, gardens, outbuildings and empty homes

The edges of flood cover are where most disputes start. Groundwater is the clearest example. Home insurers will usually cover groundwater flooding if it has built up rapidly, but not where it has risen gradually³. Many insurers will not cover damage caused by groundwater flooding at all, and some policies also exclude damage to certain parts of the property such as outbuildings or fences¹¹.

Cover for groundwater varies by insurer. NFU Mutual Bespoke lists groundwater flooding as not covered for buildings¹². Nationwide Enhanced home insurance lists groundwater flooding as included in buildings cover as of September 2026¹³, and Tesco standard home insurance lists it as included for buildings as of September 2026¹⁴. The differences are in the policy wording, not in the headline price.

Gardens and outbuildings are a second gap. Cover for items in your garden may vary: some policies include cover for garden furniture, trees, hedges, lawns and fences, while others do not¹⁵. Movable belongings deliberately left outside but within your property boundaries, such as garden furniture, plant pots and barbecues, are covered by some contents policies⁶. Esure, by contrast, states that it cannot cover any damage in a garden caused by storm, flood or subsidence¹⁶. Outbuildings cover, where it exists, applies to structures detached from your private residence, such as sheds, summer houses and garages¹⁷. Storm damage is covered, but fences, gates and outbuildings are often excluded⁷.

Empty homes are a third limit. If your home is going to be empty for more than 30 consecutive days, you may need a specialist unoccupied home insurance policy⁷. Standard policies restrict cover for properties left empty, so an insurer needs to know before the property is left.

Making a claim: repair, replace or cash settlement

Insurers settle home claims in one of three ways: repairing the damage, replacing something lost or damaged, or paying cash to cover the cost of repair or replacement¹⁹. Policies commonly contain a term along the lines of: "We will decide whether to repair, replace, pay cash or reinstate the damaged part of the building."¹⁹

That wording matters. If the customer insists on cash when the insurer is willing to repair or replace, the insurer will only pay the amount it would cost them, which is usually less than market rates because insurers get discounts from suppliers and contractors⁹. If you go ahead with the repair yourself, you are responsible for the cost until your insurers have agreed, and the insurer may pay a lesser amount if repairs could have been done cheaper elsewhere²⁰.

The practical steps before the loss adjuster arrives are set out in official guidance: mark the highest level the flood water reached on the walls of each room with a permanent ink pen, take photographs or a video of the flood damage, list details of all flood damage in your home, and list food you had to throw away because it was contaminated or had gone off¹. If a complaint about a claim reaches the Financial Ombudsman Service, it may ask the insurer to make necessary repairs, replace the item, offer a cash settlement, or compensate for distress or inconvenience²¹.

Somewhere to stay while your home is repaired

If you cannot live in your home because of flooding, the first place to look is your own policy. Halifax Home Insurance Select, for example, includes a place to stay if you cannot live in your home due to flooding on combined building and contents policies². More generally, temporary alternative accommodation if you need to move out while your home is being repaired is one of the things a home insurance policy may provide¹.

If you rent from a council or a housing association, your landlord might have to give you somewhere to stay if flooding in your home is an emergency hazard¹⁰. Councils in England must give you emergency accommodation if you are homeless after flooding¹⁰. Tenants whose flood damaged belongings are not covered may be able to get help from a local assistance fund¹⁰.

Renters should be aware that the rent obligation continues. In Wales, guidance for renters states that you must keep paying the rent even if your home is being repaired and you can only use one or two rooms²². Housing Rights can also help you find suitable alternative accommodation if you are not able to stay in your home²³.

Home emergency insurance is a separate product and does not fill this gap. It does not usually cover any damage the emergency has caused, and most home emergency policies are only meant to cover stopping the emergency rather than consequential damage²¹. If you were evacuated but your home was not damaged, a home emergency policy is unlikely to pay for a hotel.

If you have no insurance or your mortgage lender requires it

Home insurance is not a legal requirement in the UK⁸. If you have a mortgage, though, your lender will normally require buildings insurance as a condition of the loan, and the ongoing costs of owning a home include mortgage repayments, mortgage protection insurance, life assurance, contents insurance, rates, utility bills, ground rent and service charges²⁴.

If you do not have insurance, you will not be able to make a claim for damage to your property²⁵. That leaves other routes. If you are struggling with mortgage payments after a flood, Support for Mortgage Interest is a loan that can help, but if no arrangement is made to pay future mortgage or secured loan payments, payments to your mortgage will stop and you may begin to run up arrears, and your mortgage lender could eventually take court action to evict you from your home²⁶.

There is no law requiring life insurance to get a mortgage, even where a lender says otherwise²⁷. If a mortgage indemnity guarantee was taken out when the property was bought, the insurance will pay all or part of the shortfall to the lender, but the borrower remains responsible for the money and can be asked to pay it back after the property is sold²⁸. If the property has to be sold, a lender can claim any shortfall from the insurance company, but the borrower is still responsible for the debt²⁹.