Buildings Insurance Claim - Damp Issues - Halifax / AXA

RobHolyhead

Hi all,

I put in a claim for flood damage on my house following the well documented 2007 floods, 4 years down the line the issue is yet to be sorted, Halifax and AXA tossing the blame to eachother, its involved the insurance ombudsmen and is looking likely to involve solicitors.

Its taken me 4 years to get a copy of the valuation report that was done on my house at the time of purchase from the Halifax. This report was the only thing standing in my way and a full payout from AXA, BUT....

This report has reviled there were problems with damp readings at the time of purchase however, the Halifax obviously didn't think this was important enough to tell me! now its looking like ill have a £30'000 repair bill on my house.

Can someone please explain the following paragraph and what it means including who should have told who what. Obviously the Electrical issue is not important here and Ive had it sorted anyway!

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MATTERS AFFECTING VALUE

The property is in acceptable condition for lending purposes. My valuation reflects the fact that there is wear and tear to some items and that maintenance, repair or upgrading will be required.

Aspects of the electrical installation are dated and you should obtain specialist advice.


MATTERS FOR YOUR CONVEYANCER

The property is in a mining area and you should get further advice. If adverse matters are revealed the details should be referred back to me as the valuation may need to be reviewed.

Your conveyancer should make sure there are adequate guarantees for damp remedial work as some isolated higher damp meter readings were obtained and further remedial works may be required in the future.

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Any help will be appreciated as I'm at the end of my tether!

Thanks

Rob

vaio

I can't see anything in that that would cause you problems, they spotted some isolated high damp readings which might require attention in the future, presumably either they did need attention and got it or disappeared once the house was lived in so didn't need attention.

Either way I can't see why that would affect a later flood claim and I'm struggling to think of any reason a claim should still be unresolved 4 years later.

RobHolyhead

Hi,

Well my original claim was from the Halifax, who have come up with every excuse under the sun not to pay out, and eventually told me to take the matter up with my current insurers.

AXA - my current insurers have bent over back wards to help me despite knowing that the problem was pre inception of my policy and they had no business at all investigating the problem, they eventually suggested taking the claim to the ombudsmen who have turned round to AXA and not told but suggested AXA take on the claim and then reclaim their losses from the Halifax.

AXA agreed to this to my relief and surprise and said as long as there were no problems with the house at the time of purchase i.e damp issues then they had set the money aside to pay me out.

The report clearly states damp issues, and although i have not had an official response from AXA this is all they need to reject my claim as theres no guarantees that any damage is flood related.

I must say though that the flood waters didn't breach my property by about 2 inches but they did get underneath the house via air bricks.

My main concern is that The Halifax did nothing to raise this issue with me at the time of purchase as a first time buyer i didn't have a clue about any procedures etc... I'm guessing its because they thought as soon as i saw the word damp i would have run a mile, and they would have thought correctly! so decided to withheld this information from me!

Thanks

Rob

Nelson01

An insurance claim is the application for benefits provided by an insurance company. The insurance company may or may not approve the claim, based on their own assessment.

Mungo76

Why were you not initially sent a copy of the pre purchase survey? Do the Halifax agree they withheld? It might be my lack of knowledge about mortgage matters, but I would presume as you paid for it it's yours.

vshopper

Hi Rob,

When you took the mortgage out with Halifax they would normally have sent you a copy of the valuation report. If you didn't get a copy of the valuation report and didn't get any other letters about the damp issue then you might have an argument with them that you didn't know about it.

If you did get a copy of the report, it does clearly tell you that you and your conveyancer should check out the issues of the damp. Did this get done? If not, why not? If it did get checked out, what happened? Your conveyancer should also have a duty of care to explain the damp condition to you as they would also get a copy of the valuation report and are supposed to be acting on your behalf. The conveyancer is also supposed to check this issue out on behalf of the lender and so has a real responsibility to make sure it gets looked at.

opinions4u

On a mortgage for purchase Halifax provide the valuation report to both borrower and solicitor.

Can you show that they failed to do this? If so, why the hell did you buy without seeing some sort of survey?

RobHolyhead

Hi all,

In my original mortgage file there is no copy of the valuation report, of course this report is more for the Halifax's benefit so they know if i defaulted on my mortgage they could get their money back (or so i was led to belive), and as such not receiving a copy at the time of purchase didn't ring any alarm bells in fact it probably didn't even cross my mind!

Also i cant exactly prove i didn't get a copy, surely thats the old argument of "I didn't get it, We don't care we sent it!" I only received a copy of this report 3 weeks ago after 6 - 8 MONTHS of pestering the Halifax for it.

My solicitors who come to think of it were provided by the Halifax never once raised any sort of concern with me about any sort of damage to the house, I only knew about the electrical issue after the fuse box literally melted on me so i had to replace it then.

And as for why did i buy without seeing a report the answer is simple, i was a 20 year old first time buyer walking in to the housing market blind, i didn't have a clue about any sort of procedures, this i told the Halifax and they said "dint worry well sort everything out for you, if we have any problems during the purchase we will contact you about them."

Now older and wiser i know they took me for a Numpty!

vshopper

i think you might be dead in the water as far as the halifax and the valuation report is concerned- though as a last ditch attempt ask them to send you a copy of the letter that they sent along with the valuation report. If they are not able to provide it then there is an argument for you to use to say that they never sent it.

I do think that you may have some sort of recourse against the conveyancer though. The valuation report clearly states the conveyancer's responsibilities about the damp issues. You need to get in touch with them and find out what they did about it. If they did nothing, they have failed in their duties and appear to have cost you dearly.

RobHolyhead

vshopper wrote: »

i think you might be dead in the water as far as the Halifax and the valuation report is concerned- though as a last ditch attempt ask them to send you a copy of the letter that they sent along with the valuation report. If they are not able to provide it then there is an argument for you to use to say that they never sent it.

I do think that you may have some sort of recourse against the conveyancer though. The valuation report clearly states the conveyancer's responsibilities about the damp issues. You need to get in touch with them and find out what they did about it. If they did nothing, they have failed in their duties and appear to have cost you dearly.

The thing is, i don't think The Halifax sent it directly to me, the company they contract out for valuations should have sent it to me, my conveyancer and the Halifax, my reasoning for this is the Halifax don't actually hold much paperwork about my mortgage at all, they claim its all held with their solicitors and valuators. i have to call them tomorrow to find out where exactly they sent it at the time of purchase.

As for calling my conveyancers what the hell do i say?

The whole system The Halifax run regarding house purchasing is so disorganized its unreal! and their customer service is the worst i have ever had to deal with!

vshopper

things might have changed considerably, but it always used to get sent out by the halifax. This would be because they would need to look at the valuation report and advise you of any special conditions that would apply to the mortgage - for example whether they would hold back some money pending essential repairs being completed. You should clarify with them exactly who had responsibility for making sure you got sent a copy of the report. Whoever didn't send you a copy caused you to not be aware of the need to check the guarantees.

As far as what to say to the conveyancer goes, I would say to them....

"it states on the valuation report that the conveyancer should make sure there are adequate guarantees for damp remedial work as some isolated higher than normal damp meter readings were obtained and further remedial works may be required in the future. Could you please tell me what the results of these investigations were".

Where you go next from there depends on what they say.

If they say "We didn't do anything about it"- then they have not fulfilled their obligations as conveyancer as they were given very clear instructions.

If they say "yes we checked and the guarantees were in place" then it means that any damp work must have been investigated and repaired.

What you need to work out is why are they using that paragraph in the report to absolve themselves of any need to be involved in your claim. I don't really see how higher than normal damp readings mean that either company can refuse to pay out on the claim. Surely, whoever you had the buildings insurance policy with at the time the flood happened is the one that has responsibility for paying out?