Escape of water continued to be a significant issue for both residential and commercial buildings in 2022, with a total of £987 million worth of claims made across the year, a 15% increase over 2021. This amounts to an average of around £2.7 million worth of escape of water losses every single day, not accounting for those where damage costs amounted to less than excess (please check the policy excess as damage can fall under this amount), or the additional costs that may have come from loss of rent, business disruption and potentially liability costs for a property owner.

As an issue, escape of water is significant both in terms of regularity of claims and the severity of them – which means that they happen often and cost a lot to repair when they do. The cost of repair is something that has risen in the past few years, largely due to the cost of living crisis which has seen an increase in the cost of labour and parts, but also due to the increased time needed for drying out where modern methods of construction materials have been used.

Click here to view a Property Managers Guide to Escape of Water from Zurich.