Does Buildings Insurance Cover a Ceiling (& carpets)

Bazman

Hi there,

Had a really bad day today a workman put a nail through a water pipe flooding the flat below. Thre is a chance that is will dry out but there is a chance that it won't.

Now the builder initally said when quoting that he was convered but now it appears this was BS and sadly I don't have it in writing.

We have only recently moved into the flat and have not got round to getting contents insurance although we do have buildings insurance.
In any case our flat was not damaged.

So would the building insurance generlly cover the downstairs celing in such circumstances?

Would if also cover the carpets?

There was also damage to other items but they were definitely contents.

[Deleted User]

The claim you will need to make is for an 'Escape of Water' claim under your buildings insurance, if YOUR property is damaged, the carpet WILL NOT be covered if you do not have contents insurance, if it was laminate flooring it would be different. If the downstairs property is damaged and is NOT yours as a tenant or owner then you will need to ask the owner/tenant to claim from your insurance who in turn will claim from the contractor (yes its a pain in the backside but its how it works)

However if you make a claim under your insurance their 'recovery' team should ask for the details of the contractor who will be liable regardless of the insurance situation, if necessary they can pursue through the courts through something called subrogation (if they pay out on your claim, and its their choice to pursue or not).

Alternatively you can pursue directly without claiming through the county courts.

Please get in touch if I can help on the insurance front any further.

gregd_3

Your policy only covers your buildings only and not your neighbours downstairs.

Your policy will likely cover your liability as a property owner but there has to be negligence involved. An example of this would be is you ran a bath, forgot about it and it flooded downstairs then the neighbour would claim on your liability cover.

On this occasion it is your builder that is negligent not you so you can not be held in any way responsible. Doesn't matter that he does not have insurance, he is still responsible and ultimately if it went to Court it would be the builder that is sued because he caused the damaged.

Another way to put it is if you were in a road accident and the other driver was not insured and they were at fault you would take that person to court not the car they were driving.

Hope this helps. I work in the insurance industry so feel free to ask any other questions.

gregd_3

Household_Claims_Advisor,

There is no damage to property belonging to the poster so there would be no claim which would need to be made against their policy.
If the neighbour did make a claim against the poster it would be refused on the grounds of no negligence being attached to the owner.

Bazman

Thanks for all the help.