Broken wash basin, claim on Building or Contents Insurance?

squibbs25

Hello, i wonder if you can help.
My father in law has dropped something into the wash basin in the bathroom and as a result there is a huge crack in it.
Can someone tell me what section of the insurance covers it.
The reason i ask is they live in a flat and all the flat owners pay towards the building insurance, whereas the contents is seperate and both are with different companies.
When i broke my bath i was told it comes under the buildings side of the insurance as it is sanitywear, but Father in law is convinced the sink is covered under the contents part of the Insurance.

Sorry for rambling, and thanks if anyone can advise.

Squibbs

Quentin

Buildings.

cocobean12

Hi, yes buildings is quite right.... for future reference I have heard the following rule used (although I guess there will always be grey areas) - 'if you took the roof off and turned your house upside down, everything that falls out is contents, everything that stays in is buildings', also if you try to claim for the wrong thing from the wrong Insurer they will be quick to tell you its not them thats covering it anyway so you'll soon know! PS - please dont take your roof off and turn it upside down... LOL ;0)

slummymummyof3

Is it really worth claiming for a basin? By the time you pay the excess you could have more or less bought a new basin!

Oh and yes, it would be buildings.

squibbs25

Thanks for your replies and confirming what i thought.
I don't think they will claim as it's buildings.

Now all we have to do is find one that matches.
It's an old cream suite, so cant just pop to B&Q to pick one up unfortunatley.

dacouch

It should not be your problem to fix it as its the Landlords problem.

I may be wrong but my understanding of damages to a rented property are the landlord can only charge you for it if they can prove it was damaged deliberately. If they cannot prove this then it is classed as normal wear and tear and you do not pay.

There may be a better forum on MSE you could post the question where someone who knows tenancy laws could answer

Paparika

I thought that if it was fixture and fittings then it would be buildings, i could be wrong.

geri1965_2

dacouch wrote: »

It should not be your problem to fix it as its the Landlords problem.

I may be wrong but my understanding of damages to a rented property are the landlord can only charge you for it if they can prove it was damaged deliberately. If they cannot prove this then it is classed as normal wear and tear and you do not pay.

There may be a better forum on MSE you could post the question where someone who knows tenancy laws could answer

Do we know that the property is rented?

Quentin

The clue that it isn't rented is in the op.

The accident occurred in the "flat owners" property.

squibbs25

Appologies if i didnt make myself clear, the flat is not rented they own it, the flat owners also share a percentage of the freehold aswell.
Contents insurance is down to the flat owner(s) not freeholders, whereas if i understand it correctly, the freeholders are liable for the buildings insurance.
Hope that makes sense.
That's why my mother in law wanted to clarify whether it was buildings or contents insurance, (she doesn't want to claim on the buildings insurance as it will affect everyone in the building).

slummymummyof3

Even if you claim from yur buildings insurance, they will only replace the broken part of the suite. If they are unable to match the colour.....tough! You will not get the whole suite replaced.