House insurance claim

nadeembutt

Could someone please give me some advice?

My bathroom recently had a major leak and the water came down from my bathroom, through the floorboards and down into my kitchen floor.

Now the insurance company have agreed in principle to do the work my builders have givemn a quote for the bathroom which includes taking out rotten floorboards, pay for a new lino etc but they arent agreeing to some of the work that needs to be done in the kitchen.

They did send out a loss adjuster who took some pictures etc but she says theres not much to do in the kitchen apart from put up some stain block and two coats of emulsion on the celing. But i really think my wall (which has had some residual leaking needs attention)

Does anyone know what my rights are?? Can i insist they do the work outlined in the quote or is it up to their loss adjustors??

Astaroth

The policy has to cover the damage caused by insured risks but it is the insurers decision on how this is dealt with.

The problem you experience is simply a matter of opinion and it is up to ph and Ins company to come to an agreement - if this isnt possible then the Financial Ombudsman Service can take over an escalated complaint and rule who is correct.

One option you do have is to appoint a loss assessor - they are basically the same as a loss adjustor (same qualifications/ professional body etc) but they act on behalf of the ph rather than the Ins company. They will produce a similar report to the adjustor and will then handle the discussions with the insurance company. The "caution" is that they obviously charge for their services and this charge cannot be claimed against the insurer so typically are only worth considering in large losses.

nadeembutt

thank you very much.

Much appeciated

courtjester

You say that you think your kitchen wall needs attention, but don't say what the damage or attention is....

Many parts of buildings may be affected by water emanating from the original leak, but it does'nt necessarily mean that any repair needs to arise - water dries out in most cases and you should only be looking at residual or cosmetic repair.

I suspect, from your statement that the floorboards under the bath are rotten, that the leakage happended over a prolonged period and hence you may be worried that the wall has hidden damage - possibly to timberwork behind plasterboard dry-linings...? This may be the case, but the only way to find out if there is no obvious surface damage is to take down the wall - which may be an expense that is unnecessary.

Unless there is some obvious sign of damage, you could ask the loss adjusters for written agreement to deal with any latent (hidden) damage which becomes evident at a later date which is clearly the result of the same incident of water leakage, in return for not pursuing a claim for (unknown) damage now.

If the wall is plaster finish over brickwork, then unless the plaster is blown (sounds hollow when you tap the wall) or the decoration is stained or pealing, then it is likely to have dried without further attention required.

Note however, that drying out of building structures and finishes after such incidents can take many weeks depending on the severity of the leakage and therefore you may not see symptoms of damage until much later (stains and salt deposits can appear on walls during the drying process).

I wouldn't think that your situation requires a loss assessor (which as has been stated will generally cost you 10-15% of anything they get back) - you probably just need to discuss further with the loss adjuster and get them to give you some form of guarantee that the claim can be re-opened should obvious further damage become apparent.