Kitchen cupboards fell off the wall

jammymutt

I moved in to a house about 3 monhts ago the house is about 120 years old, there was no mention of the kitchen cupboard being in disrepair when we moved in.


I was stood in the kitchen making dinner when the top cupboards fell off the wall thwoing the contents all over the place, the worktop has a large chip in it and most of the food is either destroyed or not useable, also a lot of glasses and cups/mugs got broken.

The laminate floor has a few dents but luckily all my appliances are ok.

I have read on a few sites that kitchen cupboards are not coevered in the contents insurance will they just visit and say sorry we cant do anything?.

Do I have a claim?.

I have accidental damage and excesses of £250 for contents and £500 for buildings and 10 years no claims history !!!!.

The_Broker_2

If you have accidental damage cover, there should be no problem with claiming for the damage caused by the falling cupboard.

The cupboard itself won't be covered

huckster

This is going to cost you as some of the claim will be Buildings and some Contents. Basically anything fixed to the walls, floors and ceilings is Buildings and anything not fixed would be Contents.

So you will just have to see what happens with the assessment of your claim and make sure that you account for as much of the loss as possible. I can see you having a battle on your hands. When parts of things are damaged, as most Insurers won't pay for areas not damaged, you will end up having to make up the difference. This is where you need to do your research. The FOS will often have a position on different parts to claims, so worth checking their site. Sometimes they will award a 50% contribution towards parts not damaged. i.e. you might not be able to get a laminate piece to replace/match the damaged section. The kitchen cupboard if you mention that it was broken before the accident might not be covered. If you have accidental damage, I wouldn't be telling them that you think it was damaged before. The Insurers might find this to be the case, but if you tell them it was other than an accident, they will accept your opinion, not paying for the cupboards themselves. But you have a £500 excess anyway, so even if Insurers accept a claim for these, you might not get much.

If you are unhappy with the claims settlement, you would be wise to use the Insurers complaints system and if necessary take it to the ombudsman.

vaio

have a think about the costs of repair vs the extra costs you will incur as a result of making a claim plus your excess.

Maybe do some dummy quotes

The_Broker_2

Just an additional thought - thats some helluva high excesses!!!! Average starting point is about £50 each for buildings & contents

jammymutt

My contents is £150 excess and the buildings is £300 excess the worktop was damaged when the cupboard fell on it as was the floor I also have loads of cups,glasses spices,food packets etc that will all have to be replaced due to glass contamination I have cleaned the best I can but the kitchen floor and worktops are all still covered in small pieces of glass.

As far as I can see nonwe of the appliances are damaged althoguh theres a small scratch onm the front of a brand new washer but I can live with that.

vaio

If you decide that it’s worth claiming for packets of food and spices then I’d certainly get the damaged appliance included as well