Trace and Access Cover: Does Your Insurance Pay for Leak Detection?

Most London homeowners discovering a hidden water leak face the same immediate question: does my insurance pay for this? The answer is almost always yes — but with conditions that most people do not know about until they try to claim. Trace and access cover is one of the most misunderstood clauses in a standard buildings insurance policy. This page explains exactly what it covers, what it excludes, and what you need to do to make a successful claim.

The short version: trace and access cover pays for finding the leak and opening up the structure to reach it. It does not pay to fix the pipe. And without an ABI-format written report from a qualified engineer, your insurer will almost certainly not process the claim at all.

What Is Trace and Access Cover?

Trace and access cover — also called "finding a hidden leak cover" or T&A cover in the industry — is a standard clause in UK buildings insurance that pays for two specific costs when you have a hidden water leak:

1. The cost of finding it (tracing) — the specialist detection survey fee
2. The cost of physically opening up the structure to reach it (access) — lifting tiles, cutting screed, core drilling concrete, opening a wall

The clause exists because finding a hidden leak in a modern property — behind tiles, under screeded floors, under a concrete driveway — requires specialist equipment and often means damaging the structure to gain access, even with modern non-invasive detection techniques. Without this cover, homeowners would face combined detection and access costs of £200–£2,000 before they even begin the pipe repair.

The cover is usually listed in the policy schedule under "additional covers," "additional perils," or inside the "subsidence and escape of water" section. The exact wording to look for is "trace and access" or "finding a hidden leak." Approximately 97% of UK standard buildings insurance policies include it. Check your policy schedule now before you need it — insurers do not always volunteer that this cover exists when a claim is made.

The typical policy limit for T&A cover is £5,000 to £10,000. Most detection surveys and access reinstatement work falls well within this range, meaning the entire cost of locating and exposing the leak — short of the pipe repair itself — is recoverable.

What Trace and Access Cover Pays For

Two things only — and the distinction matters when you are preparing a claim.

1. The detection survey fee

The cost paid to a specialist leak detection engineer to locate the hidden leak using professional equipment: acoustic correlators, thermal imaging cameras, hydrogen tracer gas injection, or a combination of methods depending on the pipe type and surface material. Typical survey costs in London are:

• Supply pipe survey (external or internal run) — £180–£550 depending on pipe length, accessibility and complexity
• Internal plumbing or underfloor heating survey — £180–£420
• Combined supply pipe and internal survey — £350–£650

The full survey fee is recoverable under T&A cover, provided you have the ABI-format written report. See the report section below for what that means in practice.

2. Access damage reinstatement

The cost of lifting the surface material to reach the pipe and reinstating it to the same condition as before. The key phrase is same condition — not improvement, not upgrade, not like-new. The insurer pays to get the surface back to how it was. Examples:

• Block paving driveway — blocks lifted, pipe accessed, blocks relaid and re-sanded to same pattern and level
• Concrete slab — core drilled or saw-cut, pipe accessed, concrete patch to match existing finish and thickness
• Tiled floor — tiles carefully lifted (where possible), pipe accessed, tiles relaid. Where tiles break or cannot be re-used, like-for-like replacement tiles at the same value — not an upgrade to a new range
• Screeded floor — screed cut, pipe accessed, screed patched to level and hardness
• Plastered wall — plaster chased or opened, pipe accessed, replastered and skimmed to same finish

The reinstatement cost is typically £300–£1,500 depending on the surface area opened and the material involved. Both the detection survey and the access reinstatement are covered — up to your policy limit — in a single T&A claim.

What It Does NOT Cover

This is where claims go wrong. T&A cover has a clearly defined scope, and several related costs fall outside it:

• The pipe repair itself — replacing or relining the leaking section of pipe is not a T&A cost. It sits under a separate section of the policy (if covered at all) or is an out-of-pocket cost. Supply pipe repairs in London typically run £450–£1,800 depending on depth and access; this is separate from the T&A claim.
• The cost of water lost — if your supply pipe has been leaking for months, Thames Water may offer a leak allowance rebate against your bill. This is a separate process entirely. See our guide to claiming the Thames Water leak allowance — it runs in parallel with a T&A claim, not through your insurer.
• Damage caused by the water leak — rot, damp, structural damage, damage to carpets and flooring caused by the escaping water. These are covered under the "escape of water" section of your buildings insurance, which carries a separate excess and limit. Your T&A claim and your escape-of-water claim may both be open at the same time for the same event.
• Improvements or upgrades — T&A reinstates to the same condition. If your tiles were 10-year-old ceramic and they break during access, your insurer pays for equivalent ceramic tiles, not a new porcelain range. Any upgrade to a better specification comes out of your pocket.
• Detection on uninsured or non-structural features — some policies limit T&A to the building structure itself. Leaks in standalone outbuildings, garden irrigation systems or features not structurally part of the property may not qualify. Check your policy wording if the leak is outside the main building.
• Claims where no leak is found — T&A cover pays when a leak is confirmed and located. If the engineer surveys and finds no leak, the policy does not typically pay the survey fee. This is why ERL's No Find No Fee guarantee matters — if we do not locate the leak, you do not pay us, and there is no survey fee for your insurer to dispute.

How to Make a Trace and Access Claim

The claim process has six steps. Following them in order protects the claim and avoids the most common reasons for insurer rejection.

1. Confirm you have T&A cover — check your policy schedule under "additional covers" or "trace and access." If you cannot find it, call your insurer's claims line and ask directly: "Does my policy include trace and access cover?" Get the answer in writing or note the date, time and name of the advisor.
2. Notify your insurer before the survey if possible — some insurers require pre-authorisation of the detection survey before they will pay for it. Others process claims retrospectively without issue. If your insurer requires pre-authorisation, they will usually give you a claim reference number and tell you they need the ABI-format report on completion. If you are dealing with an emergency and cannot wait for pre-authorisation, proceed and submit retrospectively — courts and the Financial Ombudsman Service consistently find in favour of homeowners who acted reasonably in an emergency.
3. Book an ERL detection survey — we attend same-day across Zones 1–3 and the following working day across the rest of Greater London. Confirm at the time of booking that you want the ABI-format written report — it is an add-on at +£100 and needs to be requested before the survey so the engineer brings the correct documentation.
4. Receive the ABI-format report within 24 hours — ERL provides the written report by email within 24 hours of the survey completion. The report is signed by the attending engineer and includes all elements required by major UK insurers.
5. Submit the claim — you will need the ABI-format written report, your survey invoice, photographs of the access opening (included in the report), and your insurer's claim form. Submit by post or through your insurer's claims portal. Retain copies of everything.
6. Insurer processes the claim — for claims under £5,000 with a complete ABI-format report, most insurers process within 14–28 days and either pay the survey fee and access costs directly to the contractors or reimburse you. For claims involving a loss adjuster visit, allow 28–42 days.

One point that causes problems: do not start the access reinstatement work before your insurer has confirmed their position on the claim, unless there is an urgent health and safety reason to do so. Starting reinstatement before the insurer's assessor has seen the access opening can give them grounds to reduce or dispute the claim. If the detection report clearly documents the access opening with photographs and measurements — as ERL's ABI-format report does — this is usually sufficient, but it is safer to wait for confirmation where the work is not urgent.

The ABI-Format Report — What Insurers Need

The ABI-format report is the document that makes or breaks a trace and access claim. Major UK insurers — Aviva, AXA, LV=, Direct Line, Zurich, Hiscox and their underwriting partners — all have specific evidence requirements for T&A claims. An informal receipt from a plumber, an email summary, or a one-page invoice is almost never sufficient on its own. Insurers have become significantly stricter on documentation since 2020 as T&A claim volumes have increased.

What the ABI-format report contains

• Property address and claim reference (where pre-authorised)
• Survey date and attending engineer's name and qualifications
• Pipe type, material and nominal diameter
• Exact leak location: measured distance from two fixed reference points (e.g. "1.4m from the front wall and 0.6m from the right boundary") and depth below surface
• Detection method and equipment used (e.g. "acoustic correlator, manufacturer X, serial Y; confirmed with hydrogen tracer gas injection")
• Access opening details: dimensions, surface material lifted, method used
• Photographic evidence of the leak point and the access opening with scale reference
• Signed engineer's declaration confirming the leak was confirmed active at the time of survey

This format is also the standard used in insurance disputes and legal proceedings. If your insurer disputes the claim or engages a loss adjuster who questions the detection, ERL's report provides the same level of evidence used in court. In our experience, insurers who receive a complete ABI-format report from a qualified engineer do not typically commission their own independent survey for claims under £5,000.

Cost and turnaround

ERL provides the ABI-format written report for +£100 added to the detection survey fee. The report is delivered within 24 hours of survey completion by email in PDF format. For a supply pipe survey at the lower end of the price range (£180–£250), the report cost represents 30–40% of the survey fee — and the entire combined cost is recoverable from the T&A claim. In practice, the report pays for itself as part of the claim, and without it the claim cannot be submitted at all.

To book a same-day detection survey with the ABI-format report, call Emergency Repairs London on 0207 046 1363. We cover all 32 London boroughs, with same-day attendance across Zones 1–3 for calls received before 14:00.

FAQs

The five questions below cover the situations we encounter most often when coordinating trace and access claims for London homeowners. If your situation is not covered here, call our operations line on 0207 046 1363 — we have handled hundreds of T&A claims and can usually give you a clear answer in under five minutes.

One point worth emphasising before the FAQs: trace and access cover is available to you regardless of which contractor you use for the detection survey. However, the insurer's evidence requirements — specifically the ABI-format written report — mean that the contractor you choose needs to be able to produce that document. Many general plumbers and smaller leak detection firms cannot. ERL's engineers are trained in ABI-format report production and our reports are accepted by all major UK insurers. It is worth confirming this capability before booking any detection survey for a T&A claim.

Valentin N. — Operations Director, Emergency Repairs London