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SHEILA54

Hi

I have just got my insurance renewal through and have been told that they will exclude any water related claims due to the claims history for this.

In the past 4 years I have made claims for a burst pipe( minor damage), problems where the sewer came up into one room in the house and damaged furniture and the carpet in that room. I have also just completed a claim where a pipe burst in the floor but did not show up until most of downstairs floors and walls were damaged as the property is on a concrete raft. Obviously I understand that my claims history is bad but none of this has been my fault and I cannot change insurance companies as we had subsidence 20 years ago, hence the concrete raft. They have also nearly doubled my premium.

Please has anyone got any ideas?

Thanks

huckster

Hi

You could try speaking to a few brokers, but I am not sure whether they will be able to obtain the cover you require at a reasonable rate.

Try contacting Bureau Insurance Services and Towergate, just to name two companies that might have a look for you.

Although these claims may not be your fault, they are part of your risk profile. Insurers just look at risk, not whether you were at fault or not.

Any Insurer looking at the risk would ask for details of the claims, with a view to looking at whether there was a problem with the pipework, that is related to the way they were dealt with after the subsidence claim. It would appear that perhaps the various service pipes/drains were not installed in a way to prevent future problems happening. The Insurers may ask you to obtain reports into the various services to establish whether they are in good condition.

Further the Insurers would require full details of the subsidence claim and of the works that were completed. They may even require you to obtain a structural engineers report which will cost you atleast £500.

As an alternative, you might ask your current company to apply an excess for water damage claims, rather than exclude the cover. The Insurers may be willing to look at this.

SHEILA54

huckster wrote: »

Hi

You could try speaking to a few brokers, but I am not sure whether they will be able to obtain the cover you require at a reasonable rate.

Try contacting Bureau Insurance Services and Towergate, just to name two companies that might have a look for you.

Although these claims may not be your fault, they are part of your risk profile. Insurers just look at risk, not whether you were at fault or not.

Any Insurer looking at the risk would ask for details of the claims, with a view to looking at whether there was a problem with the pipework, that is related to the way they were dealt with after the subsidence claim. It would appear that perhaps the various service pipes/drains were not installed in a way to prevent future problems happening. The Insurers may ask you to obtain reports into the various services to establish whether they are in good condition.

Further the Insurers would require full details of the subsidence claim and of the works that were completed. They may even require you to obtain a structural engineers report which will cost you atleast £500.

As an alternative, you might ask your current company to apply an excess for water damage claims, rather than exclude the cover. The Insurers may be willing to look at this.

Hi

They gave me a 500 pound excess for water damage last year when the claim just finishing had been investigated but not dealt with.

The sewer claim was the result of a double seal not being applied to the manhole in the converted garage (now a bedroom) when the raft was installed. This has now been remedied.

The 1st burst pipe claim was as a result of a new boiler being incorrectly installed where they connected the wrong pipe to the cold water main. I told them this so that they could claim against the installer but nothing was done about it.

The claim for the last year was made worse by the fact that a concrete raft was installed when we made the insurance claim for subsidence 20 years ago. The pipework was laid in the raft and therefore a leak did not show straight away as apparently concrete absorbs water and it spreads across it before it comes to the surface.

If pipes were incorrectly installed as part of the subsidence claim then whose resposibility is it? I have asked the same question but the insurance company has renamed twice since then and they appear not to have any records, despite it being a big claim due to the piling holes filling with water, resulting in a concrete raft being put in over 2/3 of the foundations.

Up to December last year my premiums were 88 pounds per month for a 4 bedroom semi, more than my friends. In December they increased the premium to 144 pounds pm with a 500 pound excess, the claim being made in November. I have not made any new claims since then but this year the premium is higher than that and they are giving a total exclusion for any water damage to buildings or contents.

I would have understood if the excess had stayed the same and the premium raised a little but for it to raise and the exclusion put in place, without any new claim in the last 12 months, seems unfair.

*Scarlett

You face several problems here - the subsidence issue, your claims history and the fact that you have had special terms imposed on the policy. Most mainstream underwriters will not take this on as new business.

As advised above it would be worth trying a specialist insurer who is prepared to take on a higher risk according to your circumtances. As well as the ones mentioned above one that I am aware of (but have no personal experience) is Homeprotect.

This must be very frustrating for you and it's an eye-watering amount that you are paying so hopefully you'll find something to better suit your needs. You need to work out if it's financially worthwhile obtaining the required reports - in the long run, I suspect it might be.

Good luck.