Home Insurance problem

viralbhatt

Problem with norwich union home insurance.

I have funny problem with my home insurance. I notice damp on my living room and it was getting worse so called my home insurance to repair. They send person from Chemdry to check it. After checking damp he said that there is a leak in kitchen sink so I have to call plumber to fix it. I called homeserve and they came to check it. they said leak is coming from pipe inside the wall so tell your home insurance. he need access to fix the pipe and that will involve removing cupboard and sink and break wall. I called insurance company and they said you are not covered for that. I have to do this by myself. On top of that, they will only fix the damp and nothing else. I am fully covered. Been paying insurance for last 10 years and when you make a claim you find out that you are not covered for anything.
Any suggestion

lisyloo

No I don't think you've got that right.
Home insurance does not cover you for repairs.
It's your reponsibility to maintain your home and fix things that go wrong.
Home insurance covers you for risks like fire, flood, burglary and accidents (if you select and pay for that option).

So they will fix your damp because that's covered (probably under the flood section).
But general maintenance is not covered.

It's wrong to say you aren't covered for anything, because you are covered for lots of things, just not the general maintenance of your house.

If you've been paying premiums for 10 years then it might be worth at some point reading the main points fo the policy at some stage so you do know what you are covered for.
You are meant to read and check the documents they sent you.
I know some documents are large, but it takes about 5 minutes to read the summary.

viralbhatt

I really didn't know that. thank you for your advise. looks like I have to spend money for repairs.

lisyloo

Flooding does not have to a natural disaster.
It can also come from burst or leaking pipes.

There are a lot of options with home insurance e.g.
accidental damage - building
accidental damage - contents
freezer cover
cash
bicycles
legal option
personal possessions (sports gear, cameras outside the home).

It might be worth checking your policy at some stage to make sure it suits your needs.
You could have insufficient cover.
It's also possible if you've never checked that you have options you don't want and you are paying too much.

Personally I think it's one of the more complicated insurances because of all the options. A lot of people don't understand it and just take what they are sold.

dacouch

Personally I think Home Insurance is one of the easier of the Insurance as you have a list of Perils you are covered for eg Fire or Flood etc etc and its either covered of not. The easy way is it "Normally" covered if its not a wear and tear issue.

agaveworm

Difficult one.

No one's mentioned 'trace and access' yet? Chuck that in to the pot and see what happens....

Gradual, wear and tear, whatever is not usually covered. There has to be a single, identifiable cause.

viralbhatt

I have called plumber and he told me to make a claim on home insurance. he said it's your home insurance suppose to do this. I will call them on monday and see what happens. plumber told me to make a new claim saying pipe is bust inside the wall and it needs fixing. we have to break the wall down.

FlameCloud

viralbhatt wrote: »

I have called plumber and he told me to make a claim on home insurance. he said it's your home insurance suppose to do this. I will call them on monday and see what happens. plumber told me to make a new claim saying pipe is bust inside the wall and it needs fixing. we have to break the wall down.

Would you take advise from a roofer about some root canal work you needed doing? Didn't think so! - there a million and one different policies, each covering different things, so your plumber saying that it should be covered is very silly.

To be clear, this is NOT a flood- it is an escape of water. (a completly seperate peril).

There are essentially 3 ways home insurance policies deal with this sort of claim-

1. Trace and Access. The policy will pay for any damage getting to the leak, but not actually repair the leak itself (which is usually quite minor anyway). In your example they would pay to go through the wall for example, as well as any damage that the water has in itself caused.

2. No T&A- in this situation sourcing and accessing the leak is the policy holders responsibilty. The policy will only cover the damage caused by the leak itself, nothing else.

3. Full Emergeancy repairs- these tend to be as a entirely seperate add on. The policy here will cover tracing the leak, accessing it and then fixing it.

You appear to have purchased option 2, which is quite a common type of policy. Given that the trace and access policies tend to be higher priced, you have in essence saved money off the premium not to have this additional cover. As such, you will need to find the leak yourself.

viralbhatt

Thank you for your reply. Just called them and find out that I don't have trace and Access cover. Actually it's happening in my dad's house and policy is under his name. it's really slow drip, it took around six months for us to notice. you can see wet patch but not water so I might cancel my existing cover and get new cover with trace and access. it's no point for me to spend hundrends of pounds removing and fixing it.
will do insurance comprison tonight. any suggestion welcome.

darich

If you take a new policy to cover this work you might find the new company won't cover it regardless.
Ins companies exchange all manner of details to minimize/reduce fraud so your attempted claim on this work might be flagged up with a whole host of companies.
If you then take a new policy with a new company then claim within a few days or a couple of weeks, they may know that you already had this problem and might not pay out.

Someone else may confirm or shoot me down but i'd imagine that's how they work.

dacouch

I'm surprised your dad's Norwich Union Policy does not include Trace and Access as they normally cover up to £5000 on their policies.

They only cover it if you have a genuine claim for the damage the water has done in addition to the Trace and Access which might be why the call centre are saying its not covered.

Try ringing NUs Customer Service Number and ask them if your policy includes Trace and Access (I suspect it does), then if it does ring the claims department again and explain the circumstances again of the claim and ask them if it is possible you are covered.

If you have Accidental Damage Cover there is more chance they will pay for the damage the water has done if it has happened over a long time.

http://www.norwichunion.com/home-insurance/summary-of-cover.html (NU direct)

http://www.nuebroking.com/document-library/files/bh/bhhhp0975-11-08.pdf (NU through a broker)

http://www.nuebroking.com/document-library/files/bh/bhhyh0404-11-2008.pdf (NU through a broker)

I hope this helps