UK Insurers Report Surge in Subsidence Claims After Two Record-Hot Summers

UK insurers are facing a rise in subsidence claims following two record-hot summers, according to a report published by The Guardian on September 12.

The report cites homeowners describing significant structural damage to their properties, including large cracks in walls that have appeared or widened in recent months.

Henry Biggs, 49, from Stroud in Gloucestershire, told The Guardian that he and his partner noticed cracks in their family home in June 2025, a few months after purchasing it. "We've got one wall with an absolutely huge diagonal crack, through which we can see through to the other room; you could easily put your fingers in it and chunks of plaster are falling off," Biggs said, according to the report.

Biggs said the couple filed an insurance claim for subsidence, which was accepted by their insurer, Admiral, in the spring. According to the report, monitoring devices were only recently fitted to the property, roughly a year after the claim was first submitted, and the couple say they do not know when repair work might begin.

The Guardian's report describes a broader pattern of stressed homeowners reporting similar cracking in their properties, which it links to the effects of consecutive hot summers on housing structures.

Subsidence, which involves the ground beneath a property sinking and causing structural damage, can be exacerbated by dry weather that causes clay-rich soils to shrink. The report does not specify aggregate industry-wide claim figures beyond describing the trend as a surge affecting insurers.

The Guardian's report indicates that delays between claim acceptance and the start of remedial work, as illustrated by the Biggs case, are a feature of the current wave of claims facing insurers and homeowners alike.