Millions of Britons will be forced to fork out for hefty snow-related repairs to their homes from their own pockets, according to a new report.
The cost of last month’s big freeze on households topped £2 billion – and millions of homes were uninsured.
An estimated 5.9 million homes were hit with average repair bills of £343, a report by a leading home insurance company, revealed. Its research suggested that just one in five of those households, or 21%, were insured for the emergency.
That means a total of 4,779,000 households were uninsured – and a worrying 472,000 of those claim they cannot afford repair costs.
Boiler repair call-outs hit a massive 2.2 million households during the big freeze – average bills were £351. That headline figure represented almost one in 10 UK households (9%), and proved to be the most common problem.
The most costly repair was for roof damage, hitting a total of 999,000 (4%) households and costing £546 on average to put right.
A spokesperson for the leading home insurance firm said: “Having to cope without hot water and heating, or suffering a burst pipe or leaking roof, is distressing enough but for many people receiving the repair bill is the biggest upset.
“We’ve found around six in 10 people are taking out home insurance so that they are covered the next time they face an emergency of this kind.”
