Loss Assessor Leeds

Back-to-backs and stone terraces

Leeds has the largest surviving stock of back-to-back houses in the UK, with around 19,000 still standing. The city kept building regulated back-to-backs long after most others stopped, and the last went up in 1937. Around Pudsey, older homes are typically stone-built with stone slate roofs, a legacy of the town's woollen industry.

Back-to-backs share walls with the houses behind and beside them, so fire, smoke and water can pass from one home to the next, and stone and slate need like-for-like repair. Both points affect what a claim should be worth, and we make sure the insurer's figures account for them.

The River Aire and the Boxing Day floods

On 26 and 27 December 2015, during Storm Eva, the River Aire burst its banks across fourteen Leeds wards and reached a record 5.2 metres at Armley. Kirkstall was hit especially hard, and more than 2,600 homes and 650 businesses in Leeds were damaged.

The Leeds Flood Alleviation Scheme, completed in two phases in 2017 and 2024, now protects around 4,000 homes and 1,000 businesses between Leeds station and Apperley Bridge. Smaller becks and surface water still flood, and our flood damage claims page explains how we document that damage.

Old coal workings under West Leeds

The Yorkshire Coalfield extended across the old parish of Leeds as far west as Stanningley, and coal was worked at nearby Farnley until 1887. Damage caused by past coal mining is normally a matter for the Mining Remediation Authority, formerly the Coal Authority, rather than your buildings insurer.

Clay shrinkage is less of a defining problem here than in south-east England, so when cracks appear around Leeds, mining history is one of the first things we check. The government's online coal mining search is a useful starting point.

Conservation areas around Pudsey

Leeds City Council has designated both Pudsey and Pudsey Fulneck as conservation areas, and Fulneck's Moravian chapel is Grade I listed. Repairs to a listed building need listed building consent from the council, and conservation area controls can affect how a damaged building is put back, so the claim has to reflect those requirements.