Home Insurance and a Leak in the Bathroom....

mightneverhappen

Hey all,

A little bit more advice needed please! Sorry for the long post, I've broken it down as much as possible.

The surveyor came round and looked at everything a week ago last Friday. Not seen the formal report he sends to the surveying company and themselves to the insurer, but on the day he advised:

-the floor does indeed need replacing,
-the sink unit needs replacing but the sink itself and the worktop surround is fine and can be reused,
-the top half of the boxed section behind the loo would need to be removed to facilitate the repair of the leak,
-all of the boxed section behind the loo, and the section behind the sink would need to be removed to facilitate lifting and replacing the floor,
-the bath and the loo would need to be removed to facilitate the lifting and replacing of the floor.

The confusion at the moment is that:
-yes we don't have trace and access to cover the leak, so we need to pay for the removal of the top half-ish of the bit behind the loo.
-but does the insurer cover the removal of everything else so that the floor can be removed (the rest of the bit behind the loo from the top half down to ground level, plus the bit behind the sink, plus the loo and the bath)?
-also, the bit on the loo that the plumber repairs will just be undone when the loo comes out, so what's the point in repairing it prior?
-if the insurer pulls out the rest of the bit behind the loo and the sink, do they pay for it's replacement (bearing in mind that that doesn't have to come out to repair the leak but does to replace the floor)?
-if they do pay for the replacement do they only pay for the bit behind the sink and the bottom half of the bit behind the loo, with us paying for the top half behind the loo?

The people on the phone at the insurers don't seem to understand all of this, they just say that the leak needs to be repaired before they send in the people to fix the floor, and the plumber won't remove anything at all other than the bit on the loo that needs fixing (that will then be unfixed when the loo comes out).

Is this a time for the loss adjuster? What do they do and how does it all work?

Quentin

I think the "surveyor" may have been a loss adjuster. Do you have contact details for him? If so, ask him these questions.

mightneverhappen

I asked the insurer prior to his arrival if he was a loss adjuster and was told no, he worked for an independent company that does a survey of what is damaged and what wasn't. He then sends a report to the surveying company (who hire him but aren't his employer) who send it to the insurer.

mightneverhappen

We do have his contact number though. He seemed to believe that the insurer should cover the cost of removing and replacing the whole lot bar the top portion of the bit behind the loo and the repair of the leak itself. This was just his thoughts though from his knowledge of insurance, not studying the policy.

marshallka

If you policy does not state about this then really this could be classed as consequential damage. When looking at how FOS would deal with cases like this the insurer is usually asked to pay a contribution of about 50%.

mightneverhappen

Thanks marshallka, shall see how it pans out!