Leak and water damage in rental property

thomasanchovie

I'm just after a bit of advice.

We rent out a property and the tenants were away over Xmas. There's been a leak from a washing machine valve that isn't in use and it's caused quite a lot of damage to the wooden flooring.
The flooring in all the rooms downstairs needs replacing. I could get a local carpet company in to replace with carpet but our landlords insurance policy covers us for damage caused by leaks so would it be worth us claiming on this or will the increase in policy outweigh the savings?
Time is also an issue as the flooring has warped and lifted and the tenants are away for a week so now is an ideal time to get all the work done. If we go through the insurance will this cause delays?

Brb

Get quote and compare to cost of insurance excess. If no real difference then just get it done. Good timing though, do believe there are a few sales going on right now (although this itself might actually hinder the timescales as they will be busier, two-edged sword).

But do get it done quickly. It's annoying for a T to shuffle around a dirty floored home.

I would imagine insurance should be quick enough. My own contents insurance was speedy when a rented house flooded. I'd paid £75 to get water pumped out within hours of flood and before I'd even phoned insurance company and they honoured that and basically just had to tell them what I needed (which was a lot, it was full on flood) and cheques were in post within a day of informing them of each thing.

The LLs own insurance was delayed but I put this down to the pathetic LA instead of the insurance company itself. The LA told me to turn on the heating full blast and open the windows. My insurance company had sent me a flood specialist team days before who had already advised against this as it would have messed the house up completely (warm wet air rising with no dehumidifiers and it'd have just gone into walls). Three weeks in and finally LLs insurance company asked me what had happened and they were there within days and ripping out internal walls, full kitchen, digging up floor and installing several dehumidifiers (which I had to flaming empty!).

clutton_2

you will need to get dehumidifers in to remove excess water before considering re-carpeting

dacouch

Does your Landlord's policy include cover for Contents ?

thomasanchovie

Thanks for all the replies.
I do have contents insurance and reading through the policy the excess is £200.

Dehumidifiers have gone in so it should be ready for the new carpet on Friday or Saturday when the tenants are away.

Not been able to get hold of the insurance company today, hopefully they'll be in on Monday so I can work out whether it will be better to go through them or just pay ourselves.

Does anyone have any experience of how a claim like this affects premiums on a landlords policy, our renewal is in a couple of months.

Brb

Don't know about LL insurance but my contents rose the following year and then I haggled a massive discount the following year (which turned out to be less than the year house actually flooded). My claim ended up being approx £10k and a few hundred.