House insurance - does it sound too much?

jlg1

Hi everyone,

I live in a 5 bedroom semi detached house in NI. House value roughly £140,000 at present. It was extended from a 3 bedroom finished Nov 2008 - and by mistake in an email to Legal and General in March 2009 - I said about the extension when I was enquiring about my guitars etc.. being covered while in the house. They immediately got back saying the monthly insurance would go up from £16.33 to £25.29 basically because of the 5 bedrooms? We didnt take in any more ground in fact we built within the house boundary.

I know obviously the house value went up but that was from £79,000 to £140,000 absolute max. (maybe less given current house prices).

This seems a bit much - did a few quotes tonight on Confused.com and ended up with highest one being £18 - in fact L and G's own site quoted me £18.40 tonight?

I think they have pulled this figure out of the air and worse I have been paying this at least from April 2009! I cant find any correspoendence stating this figure either - I keep a close watch on paperwork and have it all relating to the house etc....

Its up for renewal in November.

Just wondering anyone think this is a bit high?

Thanks in advance,;)

James

McKneff

You need to tell us what the annual cost is.
Monthly costs mean noting as they could include extra for paying in installments.

It doesnt matter if you have not breached te boundaries, as far as the insurance people are concerned it is now a 5 bedroomed house.

jlg1

Hi, Sorry the annual cost is £307.56 at the minute was £25.29 x 12 = £303.48 then went up for 09-2010..

Yes on tonights quotes I have put in that its a 5 bedroom house and on Legal and General's site - which came back at £18.40 per month i.e, £202.80 - big difference there - could they have misquoted me at the time?

I did not change anything about contents value or anything else - never made a claim either from them - they told me 2 weeks back I have 4 years NCB and that thats the max you can have? At the time in 2009 - I simply said it was now 5 bedroomed obviously the house value went up as I had said.

James

McKneff

Just as well really that you didnt have to claim at all,
They will do anything to get out of paying so if a claim had been made, they would have said you told us it was a 3 bed and its a 5 bed,
so no payout.

Good luck

jlg1

Yeah - problem is now we have 2 things wrong a leak from the shower into the ceiling below and a cracked fireplace.

I'll not to go into but needless to say they wont cover either except for the actual repairs to the leak - not how we get at it - i.e, if we go in through the shower tray they will not cover any damge done BUT if we go in througth ceiling (which has some slight damage) thats a different story?

Useless is a word that comes to mind? Clause after clause i.e, excuses as to why they wont cover for this or that.

The fireplace was blamed on bad workmanship? - tiles just cracked - was meant to be fireproof - at least thats what we paid for - lit once and the tiles cracked - they got out of that one as well.

James

McKneff

Cant say anything really about the shower but could you not take the fireplace thing up with the people who put it in or even the tile manufacturer, if they were meant for fireplaces they really shouldnt crack so easily.

jlg1

Hi,

Yes I totally agree - we did get onto the firm that made th efireplace - they basically didnt want to know stating it had 1 years guarantee?

I mean on a fireplace? And a few years back they quoted without seeing the damage, £60 to fix it and we at that stage were wanting to take thinsg further.

I was wondering if legally were we stand - given we paid for a fireproof fireplace - the tiles cracked - we cant find the recipt (as usual I have everything else dating back to 2002!)

We are deciding what to do at the minute....:(

James

lisyloo

I was wondering if legally were we stand - given we paid for a fireproof fireplace

You have statutory rights which are nothing to do with guarantee/warranty and they cannot waive them, it's part of the law.

Goods have to be fit for purpose and last a reasonable amount of time. What is "reasonable" varies, because you wouldn't expect say a shoe to last as long as a washing machine, but your case seems fairly clear.

The first step would be to write them a letter (I would suggest recorded delivery) stating that you don't believe the goods are fit for purpose and you have statutory rights for replacement/repair under the sales of goods act.
If you have to take it further then you may be able to use any legal cover you have under the home insurance or you can do it yourself through the small claims court.

jlg1

lisyloo wrote: »

You have statutory rights which are nothing to do with guarantee/warranty and they cannot waive them, it's part of the law.

Goods have to be fit for purpose and last a reasonable amount of time. What is "reasonable" varies, because you wouldn't expect say a shoe to last as long as a washing machine, but your case seems fairly clear.

The first step would be to write them a letter (I would suggest recorded delivery) stating that you don't believe the goods are fit for purpose and you have statutory rights for replacement/repair under the sales of goods act.
If you have to take it further then you may be able to use any legal cover you have under the home insurance or you can do it yourself through the small claims court.

Hi,

Thanks for that advice.

One thing I need to pint out the fireplace was fitted with the house i.e, back in 2002 and when first lit maybe 2 years later the tiles cracked and we were quoted as I mentioned (without anyone even seeing the problem £60) to repair it.

There was no mention that I can recall, at that time i.e, 2004 that it was under 1 years guarantee? - I was only told this earlier this year by a really, well all I can say is a nasty attitude from a guy from this place - who told me to email photo's through of theproblem and he would "get back" to me, which I did - I am still waiting - that was last year!

I might just write the letter - to be honest with the winter coming in I was thinking of just tiling it myself as we are fed up with the hassle - I dont know what to do to be honest? :eek:

Our home insurance access is £100 so putting it though that isnt a really an option for 4 cracked tiles that need replaced......

But thatnsk fro "arming" me with that info .....:T
James