Buildings Insuance

Vero79

Hi

Over the past 2 years I have had on-going water problems in my 1 bed flat, I was a first time buyer and I feel a little out of my depth with the most recent catastrophe.
A leaking radiator pipe caused considerable wall and floor damage at the end of last year, wet patches appeared on walls and water was literally seeping out of the flat onto the street.
My boiler was losing pressure so it was quite easy to find the problem. The insurance company covered the work, placed me in another flat for 2 months and I moved back in in Feb of this year.
In March my buildings insurance policy was renewed and the company decided not to cover the building for damage caused by water. No other company would either. Also in March, water reappeared on the walls. It has taken me this long to get the builder responsible to look at the problem. There is definately a leak, we are not sure where from and wherever it is coming from it's going to be expensive to cover. The wet marks are in the same place as they were last time.
My questions are:

Should the insurance give me some redress and re-open the old claim
Should the builder cover the work as whilst they spotted the leaking pipe they may have missed something else and fixed over another problem

Any help/pointers would be much appreciated.
Many thanks

huckster

You could always phone the Insurers and say that the same fault has come back again. Ask them whether they can reopen the old claim and arrange for someone to come out to inspect.

I cannot see why they would not do this. If they agree that this is related to previous claim event, then they should deal with it, on the same basis as before. If the contractor is responsible for further work, the Insurers will deal with them.

If after you have tried this, you have not got anywhere, you will have to get someone else to have a look. Perhaps it is nothing to do with the central heating system. It could be a leak from anywhere.

A relative had a small leak upstairs and water managed to find its way across to the other side of the house. You should have a good look yourself. If you have a loft space, during day light, look for any gaps in roofing showing any light through. Also in the loft, if there are any pipes or tanks, with a torch, visually check everything.

Check the guttering when it is raining hard. Are they overflowing, with water cascading down the walls. This water could penetrate the walls.

This could turn out to be a maintenance issue for you to sort out and nothing that the Insurers will get involved with.

If you are stuck, get a general builder to come out to have a look. They will no doubt find any work that they can do for you.