The short answer
Home insurance may cover chimney damage caused by a sudden event such as a storm, but standard policies often exclude gradual deterioration. Whether a claim succeeds depends on your policy wording and the insurer's assessment, and nobody can promise the outcome. Tell your insurer before repairs begin, and keep photographs and receipts.
Sudden damage versus slow wear
Insurers separate two kinds of chimney trouble. One is damage from a specific event: a stack knocked over in a gale, a pot blown off, a branch through the flashing. The other is the slow decline of old pointing, a crumbling brick face or perished flaunching. Many policies treat the first as an insured event and the second as maintenance that stays the owner's responsibility.
A Which? article of 20 November 2025 warned that wear and tear can fall outside a standard policy, and its example was rain coming in through a roof that had not been looked after. It also quoted Financial Conduct Authority figures: only 32% of storm-related claims made in 2024 resulted in a payout. So the outcome is never certain, and nobody can promise you one, including us. Read your policy documents for the exact terms on storms, gradual damage and any excess. Our chimney repairs section covers the repair side once you know where you stand.
Reading the policy before you need it is worth the effort. Look at the definition of a storm, any minimum wind speed, the excess that applies to buildings claims and whether work must be done by a named type of contractor.
What the Financial Ombudsman asks about storm damage
Once a refusal has been challenged, the Financial Ombudsman Service weighs three things. It asks whether a storm genuinely occurred when the damage was done, whether the pattern of damage fits what storms typically do, and whether the weather was the dominant cause or the damage would probably have happened anyway. The Ombudsman also points out that the insurer carries the burden of showing that an exclusion applies. Complaints often founder when the stack was visibly neglected and the owner was aware of it, or when the storm merely revealed a fault that had been developing for some time.
For a chimney, the last of those questions often decides things. A stack with old, open joints may fall in wind that a sound stack would ride out, and the insurer may say the weakness was the real cause. Pictures of the stack before the event, plus dated records of any repairs, show the condition it was in. The Ombudsman's storm damage guidance sets out the full process.
What to do before anyone touches the stack
Ring your insurer as soon as you can. In its Storm Eunice guidance in 2022, the ABI advised arranging temporary emergency repairs if needed, after a word with the insurer, and holding on to receipts, because they form part of the claim. Take pictures of the damage from the garden and from indoors, including any fallen brick or pots, and leave debris where it lies until you have recorded it. Stay off the roof yourself.
Where rain is coming in, a make-safe visit is our first priority. That may mean a temporary fix or sheeting, with the lasting repair planned once your insurer has said its piece. Keep our written quote and the survey photographs, because an insurer may ask to see them. How your insurer responds depends on your policy, and neither the survey nor the repair carries any promise about the result.
If you rent the property out or share a building, check whose policy applies. Flats and shared stacks often sit under a block policy held by a freeholder or managing agent.
Do not sign anything that commits you to a repair price until you know whether the insurer will appoint its own contractor or accept yours.
Gradual faults and cover you may still have
Many chimney repairs land on the owner: repointing worn mortar, replacing a flaunching that has perished, relaying a stack that has weathered over many years. Our guide to lime mortar chimneys explains why older stacks need regular attention, and the same goes for modern ones. Look in your policy for a section on accidental damage, or for a buildings section that is distinct from contents, since some policies include limited cover for items such as pots, aerials or fallen masonry.
Should the insurer decline, you start by complaining to the insurer itself. If eight weeks pass with no final answer, or you are unhappy with the answer you get, you can take the complaint to the Ombudsman. It helps to ask the insurer to say in writing which exclusion or condition it relies on, and to keep every letter and email. Knowing that step exists is worth something before you accept a refusal and pay for the work yourself.
Getting the evidence in order
Whatever the cause, a clear record helps everyone. Our survey photographs cover the stack from the pots down to the loft, and a written quote follows the visit. If the stack is cracked, our page on a cracked chimney shows which cracks matter. For a view of what a full check involves, see what a chimney inspection covers.
High stacks often need a scaffold, which can make up a big share of the bill, so ask your insurer whether it falls inside anything they approve. Our page on chimney scaffolding lays out the access choices and the usual national prices.
Finally, keep everything in one folder: policy schedule, dated photographs, the quote, emails with the insurer and receipts for emergency work. If a dispute does follow, that folder is your case, and it saves hours of searching later.