Home buildings insurance - company not paying up

jaybee2151

I have an old 15th century cottage which I renovated completely 12 years ago. I recently had a water bill for £2,500. Checks were made and leaks were found in the water pipes under property. I contact the Halifax who do my buildings insurance and they sent out appropriate drainage and plumbing company. They did some sonar checks in my kitchen (which has a solid old brick floor) scratched their heads and thought that they could hear a leak in a corner and the best way would be to go under my kitchen units where the stopcock was located. They went away to contact Halifax. I had a voicemail message today saying that the insurance company wouldnt cover the work as it was deemed to be general wear and tear on the water pipes. How do they know this from a sonar check. Why is it not covered? Surely the fact that I have an old cottage means that I am going to get a certain amount of wear and tear and this is what my buildings insurance should cover? I cannot afford to carry out this work myself and would welcome any comments or suggestions.

huckster

Just checked the Halifax policy wording, which has exclusions below. They firstly don't cover the cost of any tracing/access required to find the problem, hence why they only used the sonar check. They then would not cover the plumbing issue. The loss of metered water would also not be covered under Contents if it is a wear and tear issue.

You will therefore have to meet the costs of gaining access to the pipes and sorting out the problem. You could check with the local water authority to see whether they can help. I suspect that they have no responsibility on your land, but it is worth a call.

When your policy is next due for renewal, I would suggest changing Insurers. Some Insurers do cover trace/access costs. There is a separate Insurance available for such events, often provided by water companies. Homeserve offer one, but they have a bit of a bad name.


Escape of water from, or the freezing of, fixed
domestic water installations, or escape of oil from
fixed domestic oil heating installations.

Excluding

The cost of excavation to gain access to the
installation, making good the area disrupted during
excavation and/or repairing the installations
themselves, unless the damage has been caused
by freezing.

Accidental damage to services.

Excluding

Damage by gradual deterioration which has
caused an installation to reach the end of its
serviceable life.

General exclusion

Wear and tear
Any loss or damage caused by wear and tear, gradual
deterioration, cleaning, restoring, reproofi ng, light,
atmosphere, parasites, vermin, insects, moths, mould,
fungus or any other gradually operating cause.

jaybee2151

Thanks for this. So basically they managed to exclude themselves from covering any eventualities, despite the fact the you pay them a premium every month to cover your property and anything that may go wrong with it !

InsideInsurance

Wear and tear will rarely be covered by an insurance policy as it is inevitable where as insurance is typically to cover the unexpected. Unfortunately weaker products will often exclude investigation costs as an easy way for them to cut costs and thus offer their lower premiums.

huckster

jaybee2151 wrote: »

Thanks for this. So basically they managed to exclude themselves from covering any eventualities, despite the fact the you pay them a premium every month to cover your property and anything that may go wrong with it !

The other thing which I was going to question is whether it was a good idea to Insure a 15th century property with the Halifax. Many Insurers will not cover properties of this age under their standard policies, without obtaining further information. If the Halifax were not aware of the property age, it is possible that they may review the policy at renewal.

I would suggest moving to an Insurer that offers better cover. e.g Hiscox, NFU Mutual. Discuss your requirements with a decent local broker.

jaybee2151

Thanks for the advice Huckster. I will certain now look around and talk to a few people.

ihateyes

jaybee2151 wrote: »

Thanks for the advice Huckster. I will certain now look around and talk to a few people.

I Think the point the halifax are making is this isnt a property damage claim, just more leaking pipe/bust pipe, which home insurance doesnt cover the repair for......

I imagine if damage had been caused, the damage caused would be covered...... i would check that out with them...

As huckster said companies like homeserve, British Gas etc cover these faults, but be careful cos the are plumbing and drains cover and Home Emergency covers.....

I doubt the home emergency would cover this again, as its not causing 'property damage' as the water seems to be draining away and not coming up through the floor.

TSx

Trace and Access is included on most policies I've dealt with - the main exceptions I've seen are those policies which are sold by estate agents (which always seem to have quite poor cover), those on cheap policies such as Budget, and on Lloyds TSB (which I feel is a poor policy anyway).

The majority of household insurances these days should have some element of trace and access included.

Ian_W

jaybee2151 wrote: »

despite the fact the you pay them a premium every month to cover your property and anything that may go wrong with it !

I think you need to educate yourself by reading your insurance policy as you're disappointed by assuming it covers more than it does. Generally, it doesn't cover you for "anything" but for specified perils, like fires, floods, burglary and storm damage etc.

So if your roof leaks and causes damage inside it may well be covered if the damage is down to high winds in a storm but won't be covered if the tiles or slates are just in poor state through lack of maintenance.

InsideInsurance

Ian_W wrote: »

I think you need to educate yourself by reading your insurance policy as you're disappointed by assuming it covers more than it does. Generally, it doesn't cover you for "anything" but for specified perils, like fires, floods, burglary and storm damage etc.

The likes of Hiscox, however, do an all risks policy and therefore things are covered unless explicity excluded rather than the normal specified risk policies

ihateyes

InsideInsurance wrote: »

On this occasion you need to do the reading. The likes of Hiscox do an all risks policy and therefore things are covered unless explicity excluded rather than the normal specified risk policies

Why does he need to do the reading??? he hasnt assumed something is covered that isnt covered .... the OP has.

The sad fact is people dont read the t&c's until they are told they arent covered... to many people are drawn to the cost of the policy and not the substance of the price.....

Take a mortgage... specially 1st time buyers.... they wont read their t&c's. they wont give 2 flying f**ks, all they are interested is getting the keys....

Problem in most instances is ignorance.