Water leak Ins won't pay if old pipes

hermum

My parents were told yesterday that they have a water leak, around £4k used in 3 months.
Their insurance co have said that if it's due to the pipes being old they won't cover the repair.
Nowhere in their blurb does it say this, is there anything that they can do if the company won't pay? I would have thought that this should be stipulated or is that supposed to be something that everyone knows?
Thanks in advance for any advice.

WhiteHorse

Which pipe(s)? Are you referring to the mains input to the house (street to stopcock)? The actual location of the leak has been identified? The pipes concerned are definately yours, and not any belonging to the water company?

What exactly do they mean by 'old'?

If the pipes are yours, they can't reasonably deny a claim unless it can be shown that you have been negligent in maintaining the property.

Quentin

Are they just refusing to do the repair, (which may be a maintenance issue rather than an insured event), or refusing a claim for the cost of the water?

huckster

If you can post which Insurer the policy is with, people might cast their eye over the policy wording online if available and comment on the wording.

Without seeing the wording difficult to comment. Also you would need to establish that you have a valid claim under the terms of the policy, by getting the pipe escavated and the problem diagnosed.

hermum

Thanks for the quick replies.
The leak is somewhere from the meter on the property boundary to the house. They're waiting for a contractor to come out to locate the actual leak.
They are with AA insurance.
They are saying if the pipes aren't properly maintained they won't cover the repairs.
I don't know though what maintenance you are supposed to do on underground pipes to satisfy an insurance company. Part of the pipework was renewed a few years ago by the water co before they went onto a meter, the rest of the pipes are probably 30 years old.

lisyloo

I read your post the same way Quentin does (or appears to).
It sounds as though they aren't denying to pay for the claim (the water loss) but if your pipes needed repacing anyway its not their responsibility to upgrade your pipework to brand new.

Quentin

You don't have to "satisfy" your insurer you do maintenance - they aren't insuring your pipes against you getting any leaks due to old age/maintainence issues!

It is unlikely they will pay for the repairs if no event is involved (ie it's just a maintenance issue), but have they said they won't pay for the lost water?

huckster

Agree

They won't pay for the actual work required to fix the pipe, if it is an issue of wear and tear, therefore not related to insured peril.

The loss of metered water comes under Contents for which the AA have a limit of £1000.

Do your parents have any form of Home Emergency type cover that they might have arranged to cover the water pipe ? Some people take out a separate type of cover to a normal Home Insurance to cover these events.

hermum

I'm not sure about the lost water but the repair will no doubt be 1000's due to the length of the drive & it's block paved, unless it's in a very easy to get to bit but will they need to replace all the pipe if one part has a problem?
Does anyone know if there's anywhere that we can read up on what maintenance is expected to be done to underground pipes to satisfy an insurance company?
No separate cover, as they thought that the house insurance covered it.

Quentin

As has already been posted, no buildings policy will cover this if it's a maintenance issue.

They need to trace the cause of the leak and take it from there.

huckster

Because the pipes are underground, there is not much you can do. I don't think anyone owning a house would have a schedule of works, which includes replacing underground pipes/cables at the relevant intervals.

If you reseach this, you will find that there is separate Insurance you can take out to cover water pipes and other underground services. These can often be arranged via the water company that supplies water to the house. Companies like Homeserve do offer the cover, but there are plenty of comments online from disgruntled customers.