home insurance claim, help please

arwalder

Hello,
Just after a bit of advice on what may be a helpless situation...
My father in law has had a pipe in his property whilst he was away for the weekend which has totally devastated his home.
The insurance company will not entertain the claim as it is written in the small print that if he leaves the property for a length of time he has to drain all the water from his system. He had kept the heating on but had not drained the water in the pipes etc. Surely this seems an excessive measure to take every time you leave your home for a couple of days.
Though I can completely understand that this is written in the small print and it is up to him to check this I was just wondering if there is anything that can be done?
Thanks in advance Amy

Flossiesdoll

Check what the policy says about the length of time he has to leave for before the clause comes into effect.

dacouch

How many CONSECUTIVE days was it since he last stayed in the property overnight?

Which Insurer is it?

Pitlanepiglet

That would be a highly unusual policy term, has he previously declared that he is away for extended periods of time. Exactly how long was he away for this time?

That clause is more usually seen in a property that is empty for in excess of 28 days.

arwalder

Thanks to you all for your replies,
I have just checked my own policy as this has really made me think- ours seems very straight forward. Surely if it was a condition of his insurance that the system has to be drained if he’s going to be leaving the house for ” X” amount of days this should be made very clear and not solely mentioned in a policy document?
I will be in contact with him tomorrow and I will post the exact wording of the policy/exclusions as this is really crucial. As I understand he was away for 2 days and he has been living in the property otherwise.
Amy.

KarenBB

My insurance specifies that if you home is unoccupied (definition of that is not occupied for 60 days) that the water has to be drained etc - however it states that you don't need to drain the water if you have water radiators as you should have the heating on to keep the temperature over ?? between certain dates - something like november to april. I've not got the details to hand so this is a bit vague. Fot my insurance they would want me to have the heating on in January and not drain the tank, the house would have to have someone going into the property every 14 days. I'd have a really good look at his policy.

Sorry I've rambled and you've now posted he's only been away for 2 days so draining the tank would seem madness.

dacouch

Arwalder could you find out which Insurer he is with, we can then copy and paste the relevant sections of the policy for you.

If you want to have a look while your around his house, there will be a section near the start of the policy titled along the lines of "Definitions" or "Meanings of Words". You simply then have a look at their definition of "Unoccupancy" and read how many CONSECUTIVE days they restrict the cover after.

arwalder

That’s exactly what I thought it seems a bit excessive for two days!
I will definitely get together all the facts and post tomorrow. Think he’s with AIG- I'll have a look on website now see if it states anything on there.
Thanks to everyone for your interest and taking the time to reply it’s much appreciated.

dacouch

I can't find an AIG policy to show you, they tend to underwrite schemes that have another brand name (If you can tell us that we can find the relevant policy and show you).

arwalder

Neither can I just had a quick look on the site but don’t know which company has underwritten his policy.
The insurance policies that i've looked at; the period they are defining as unoccupied does seem to be 60 days and only makes suggestions that the system should be drained or heating kept on. It's not a condition nor does not state that the claim will be denied if this isn’t done. But i've yet to see his policy so not really sure yet.
As far as i can see he's taken reasonable care because he left the heating on- surely for a short time away from the house that is a more practical way to try and stop pipes from freezing.
I’ll see what information I can get from him tomorrow and will keep you posted.

Sponge

Draining pipes for a weekend away? Seems a little excessive to me. Extended period of 60, or 30 days? Maybe. But a weekend?