£1206 on average for unexpected UK house repairs

Repairs to property cost Britons more money than any other unexpected household bills over the past 12 months, new research from Abbey reveal.

A total of 79 per cent of Brits were hit with an unexpected expense over the last year, with 36 per cent of respondents to a poll admitting that they had been forced to fork out more than £1,000 each time.

The research found that unexpected house repairs cost £19.2 billion last year in the UK, an average of £1,206 for each of the 15.9 million people affected. Many Britons used credit cards and overdrafts to pay for unexpected bills and expenses, while others borrowed money or sold items to pay for them.

Here is a breakdown of some of the unexpected expenses faced each year:

Unexpected expense	Number of people affected	Average unexpected expense per person	Total unexpected expense
House repairs	15.9million	£1,206	£19.2billion
Bills, taxes, fees etc	18.8million	£773	£14.6billion
Travel expenses	12.8million	£447	£5.7billion
Birthdays and weddings	14.8million	£285	£4.3billion
Children's entertainment / gifts etc	10.2million	£245	£2.5billion
Medical expenses (not covered by insurance)	4.4million	£459	£2.1billion
Parking ticket	4.7million	£63	£298.2million
		Total	£48.7billion