According to a study, repairing leaky pipes and faucets cost the British £13.6 billion ($17.3 billion) in the past 12 months.
One in three Britons – or 21.5 million people – experienced a leak in their home in the past year, according to a nationwide survey by Neos based on a sample of 2,000 people.
The average cost of repairing a leak is £632.80. The survey also suggests that 44.77 million Brits have had a leak in their current or previous home at some point.
Many Britons do not take precautions against leaks because, according to Neos, it is a “hidden problem that often only comes to light when it is too late and the damage is already done”.
Only one in ten Britons has a leak detector installed and 11% do not have insurance to protect them against damage caused by leaks.
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London homes have the most leaks, with four in five (81%) people having to pay to repair leaks in their current or previous home.
However, Scots are most likely to have experienced a data breach in the past year (38%), the study shows.
Meanwhile, the southwest is the region with the fewest leaks: two in five (41%) residents say that there has never been a leak in their home.
Residents of social housing are less likely to experience leaks: only 42 percent of residents are affected by leaks, compared to 52 percent of homeowners and 55 percent of private renters, the data shows.
Although it costs the average Briton around £633 to repair a leak, some people have had to pay up to £12,000, according to the study.
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Residents of Northern Ireland pay the most (£724), while residents of the East Midlands pay the least (£425).
The survey also found that almost a third (30%) of Britons had their leak costs covered by insurance, but a quarter (24%) ended up having to pay for them themselves because they had not told their insurer.
This is “perhaps because they did not understand their policies or were afraid of punishment,” said Neos.
