Trace and access leak detection when you claim on home insurance

What does the trace and access part of a home policy pay for?

The trace and access part of a home policy pays for tracking a hidden leak to its source and getting to it, and, in MoneySuperMarket's words, insurers will only pay for costs “directly related to finding the leak”.

Escape of water is the insurers' term for water getting out of the home's own pipework, such as a leaking or burst pipe hidden under a floor, inside a wall or above a ceiling; Confused.com says trace and access applies to escape of water and leaves out water coming in from outside. Admiral and Confused.com describe the access part as taking out and putting back parts of the building, such as walls, floors or ceilings, to reach the leak.

Confused.com says the cover is usually part of buildings insurance but that every policy varies, and Admiral advises checking the policy documents for whether it is included and what its limits are. The policy wording decides, so check with your insurer first.

Insurer and comparison guides name thermal imaging, acoustic methods and tracer gas among the ways a trace and access search finds a leak. Cambrian Leak Detection uses the leak detection methods insurers name, alongside pressure testing and moisture mapping.

Sources: MoneySuperMarket, Trace and access cover; Confused.com, Trace and access; Admiral, What is trace and access cover?

Which costs does trace and access leave to you?

Trace and access leaves the repair of the leaking pipe itself to you: MoneySuperMarket and Confused.com place the mend outside the cover, one Financial Ombudsman Service decision found it did not pay for repairing the pipe, and insurers commonly exclude general repairs, slow gradual damage and wear and tear.

Among common escape of water exclusions, Ageas names general repairs to the water or heating system and slow, gradual damage such as damp, failed sealant or mould. Aviva says that when wear and tear causes a leak, the repair will most likely not be covered.

The cause written down can decide the outcome. In the same ombudsman case, the report blamed an ageing plastic pipe connection, and the insurer excluded the resulting damage as wear and tear. Ageas's list names the heating system beside the water system, so the same split between finding and mending applies to a hidden central heating leak.

Sources: MoneySuperMarket, Trace and access cover; Confused.com, Trace and access; Financial Ombudsman Service, decision DRN-5382026; Ageas, When would my Escape of Water claim not be covered?; Aviva, Escape of water.

How does a leak report help the insurer decide the claim?

A leak report helps the insurer decide the claim by giving the leak's location, the access work required, the likely cause where it is known and photographs, the points insurers and comparison sites name.

Location

Where the leak sits, which Confused.com says the specialists' findings give the insurer.

Access needed

What must be done to reach the leak, spelled out in the same findings.

Cause

What the report names as the cause can decide the claim, because slow, gradual damage and wear and tear are common exclusions.

Photographs

Aviva, MoneySuperMarket, Confused.com and NFU Mutual advise photographs or video, and Admiral, MoneySuperMarket, Confused.com and NFU Mutual advise keeping invoices, receipts or reports.

One ombudsman decision shows what such a record can hold: the insurer's specialist had pressure tested the pipework, taken thermal images and photographs, and set it all down in a report the ombudsman called detailed and methodical. Cambrian Leak Detection records the leak's position, the access needed and photographs in the same way for the insurer.

Sources: Confused.com, Trace and access; Financial Ombudsman Service, decision DRN-5382026; Ageas, When would my Escape of Water claim not be covered?; Aviva, Escape of water; Admiral, What is trace and access cover?; MoneySuperMarket, Trace and access cover; NFU Mutual, Escape of water claims; Financial Ombudsman Service, decision DRN-4125471.

Should the insurer give the go-ahead first?

Yes, where the policy asks for it: Ageas says its agreement is needed before work starts, while Admiral usually asks the customer to arrange a professional and keep the invoices and reports, and some insurers send their own specialist.

Ageas wants to agree the work first so that it can weigh tracing the leak against routes that may cost less, such as new pipework, and if the claim is declined once investigated further, it does not reimburse the cost of the works.

Admiral notes that the professional may have to be paid up front and the cost claimed back later, and that a customer insured elsewhere may find their insurer sends out a trace and access tradesperson of its own. So the first step is the same whoever insures the home: ask the insurer how it wants the search arranged, before anyone starts.

Sources: Ageas, What is Tracing a leak? What does it cover?; Admiral, What is trace and access cover?; Confused.com, Trace and access; Aviva, Escape of water; MoneySuperMarket, Trace and access cover; NFU Mutual, Escape of water claims.

Does home cover extend to tracing the supply pipe outside?

Home cover can extend to the supply pipe outside: Welsh Water says some insurance policies cover leaks on supply pipes and advises checking the policy, and Hafren Dyfrdwy leaves leaks covered by household insurance out of its free repair scheme and may ask to see the policy.

The supply pipe is the buried pipe that brings water from the street to the house, and under both Welsh water companies' rules the owner answers for it, with limited help on each company's own terms.

Evidence of where the leak is can matter here too. Residents of five houses in Pontycymer, whose shared pipe BBC News reported on in July 2026, told the BBC their insurers would not pay without evidence of where the leak was. The page on underground supply pipe leak detection sets out how that pipe is traced and what each company offers.

Sources: Welsh Water, Private leaks on your property; Hafren Dyfrdwy, Water pipe responsibility; Welsh Water, Private leaks; BBC News, Pontycymer shared water pipe report.

Who claims when a contract-holder in Wales reports a leak?

The landlord, not the contract-holder, deals with a leak on the water, heating or hot water installations of a rented home in Wales, because the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 makes the landlord keep those in repair; whose insurance then pays depends on the policies held.

Contract-holder is the Act's word for a tenant or licensee. Section 92 puts the repair duty on the landlord of a secure contract, a periodic standard contract or a fixed term standard contract made for less than seven years, covering the installations for water, heating and hot water.

Welsh Water suggests that tenants speak to their landlord straight away, since it may fall to the landlord to arrange the repair, and it cannot help landlords through its Leak Support Scheme. For a contract-holder, the single most useful thing is to tell the landlord as soon as the damp shows, so the landlord can arrange the repair. The page on a leaking water pipe in a rented home covers the signs and the checks to make first.

Sources: Welsh Government, Renting homes: landlords; legislation.gov.uk, Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016, section 92; Welsh Water, Private leaks on your property.