16% believe that home maintenance is covered under their home insurance policy, according to new research from Legal & General’s general insurance business as part of its Home Care and Repair Report.

The research found that 94% do recognise the importance of home maintenance. 75% said that they carry out maintenance checks in their home at least once a year or more. However, 15% of the population never carry out any home maintenance checks and 8% are delaying basic home maintenance repairs because they feel they are too expensive to fix.

Meanwhile, 10% said they don’t understand what maintenance means in their insurance policy and 20% of the population mistakenly think they can claim on their insurance to check or replace roofing.

12% wrongly believe they can claim on their insurance to treat damp on an interior wall.

8% of people said they have no idea what is covered by their home contents insurance and 9% do not know what is covered by their buildings insurance policy.

Mark Holweger, director for Legal & General’s general insurance business, said: “Our research shows that while consumers do appear to know the importance of carrying out regular home maintenance, they don’t necessarily really understand the important implications there might be for their home insurance cover if regular checks and repairs are not made.

“In our experience, when it comes to customers actually making a claim, they aren’t as clear on the detail as they thought. Unfortunately, this lack of understanding means that insurers do receive a number of claims that are not valid. This can lead to customers being confused and often disappointed and dissatisfied if their claim is turned down.

“This is why we believe it’s important to do more to help our customers and our intermediary and business partners’ clients have a better understanding of their policy cover.”