Possible insurance claim?

carlw

Hi

I have never claimed on home insurance before and was just after some advice really.

I live in a ground floor flat (converted semi-detached house). The local council are my freeholder and arrange buildings insurance. I arrange my own contents insurance.

I recently noticed one of my walls in my lounge blistering, and on further inspection it seems like there is or has been a leak from either the loft or the roof running down the external wall. Entering the flat above half way up their lounge wall (probably via their window frame) and then running all the way down ceiling to floor in my lounge. Its been very gradual, so not pouring in and not easily noticed before now.

The wall will certainly need re-decorating, it may need re-plastering, my laminate flooring could be damaged or rotten but without closer inspection i wont know, the damage could not yet be obvious without pulling it up, as if there is damp underneath it will only get worse. My television itself is not at all damaged but the stand has been exposed to water and is a bit damaged.

My questions are:
Whose insurance covers this, my contents or the freeholders buildings, or both?
If its mine and i have to pay the £250 excess then i would bite the bullet and ignore the damaged TV stand and re-decorate myself and i would have to ignore the floor, but i guess the whole point of insurance is for instances like this. So any advise welcome.

Thanks

Carl

dacouch

The building insurance will cover all of the damage apart from the the TV stand which is contents.

As the council are the Freeholder they tend to Self Insure by having big excesses eg £5000 (They pay for anything under the excess themselves). It would be worth speaking to the council as they will probably just get their normal staff to repair the damage. It is important that they find the cause of the water and repair that as otherwise it will keep occuring (The repairs to the cause of the leak eg a leaking pipe or problem with roof is often not covered by Insurance)

So basically speak to the council and ask them how they want to deal with it