flood in basement

surawy

We had a flood in our commercial property basement---last August.
Water had to be baled out.
We have been unable to find the exact source although testing the water it was mains water.
The water board fixed many local leaks--and now the water ingress appears to be stopping.
Our loss assesor says that we cannot claim on the insurance as there is no insureable risk.demonstrated
There is considerable damage and the final bill will be around 30k--it seems unfair that we should have to pay it.

ps our own water system was/is fine.

Any thoughts/suggestions.

dacouch

If it is mains water then by definition it must be coming from "any tank, apparatus or pipe" which is roughly the general definition of the relevant part of a policy that will cover this.

Which Insurer are you with (This is so we can look up the relevant wording from their policy) ?

Do you have a broker, if so which one ?

surawy

We are with Aviva----our broker is Weslyan ( we are doctors) and we appointed our own loss assessor as we had had so much grief /and no help at all from the appointed loss adjusters who are Cunningham and Lindsey

dacouch

Are you the landlord or the tenant ?

How is the loss assessor doing with the claim ?

surawy

I am the landlord.
The loss assessor says that we have to find an insurable cause.
The fact that its mains water(as tested) to me means that its water supplied by the water board---and therefore insureable.
we are in the process of looking for the source under the foundations (eg a pipe) although the leak may have taken place up to half a mile away.

Basically i disagree with our assessor and wonder what other people think.

dacouch

Has the Assessor tried putting in a claim under the Trace and Access section, see page 20 of the link which is the standard Aviva wording (It can vary from broker to broker though http://broker.aviva.co.uk/view-document/B090828AA1041559/package-policy-fast-trade/

surawy

He mentioned trace and access--i believe he put in a claim for £8k ---although i believe the limit is £5k on the policy

---

i wrote to him today and he said that the loss adjusters had not bothered to reply as he thought that we had not shown ---see below
Dear Andrew

The adjusters will not be able to request a payment until it is demonstrated that the cause is an insurable risk. They have not even bothered to respond to my request.

Kind regards

dacouch

What is your Loss Adjuster suggesting your next move is ?

surawy

He just feels that we ought to keep looking for the mythical pipe which caused the flood.
Perhaps we ought to dig up the whole terrace.-joke
The question remains --are we able to make a claim now.?

dacouch

The options seem to be, find the leak, or try your luck with the ombudsman or with a court.

It might be worth posting asking for advice on finding the leak on this thread on MSE (Don't use the flood and storm one as no one reads it). There might be someone who can recommend some tricks on finding the leak eg using dye etc http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=39

FlameCloud

It is ultimatly down to the policy holder to prove the peril the claim is under, not for insurers to find out- there is established case law for this that the assessor and adjuster will be aware of. Until the cause of the problem is identified then your insurers can do this, although it is a little harsh.