Bathroom leak; wear and tear???

elliebobs

Hello all, hopefully you can help my friend out with her bathroom nightmare.

Basically, her waste pipe has leaked and pretty much wrecked her bathroom and the floor (with some damage to the kitchen ceiling).

The insurance company (sorry but I don't know which one) has point blank refused consideration on the basis that it was wear and tear. They will pay out for damage to the kitchen ceiling which is pretty minimal.

Is this standard??? I appreciate that insurance companies are not maintenance companies but would you expect them to at least come out and survey the damage and assess how it came about. If it was from a leaky seal then fair enough but equally something could have dropped onto the pipe and damaged it.

She has spent all day clearing up and has never had to claim for anything so is pretty stressed at the moment.

Has anyone here successfully challenged wear and tear??

ihateyes

elliebobs wrote: »

Hello all, hopefully you can help my friend out with her bathroom nightmare.

Basically, her waste pipe has leaked and pretty much wrecked her bathroom and the floor (with some damage to the kitchen ceiling).

The insurance company (sorry but I don't know which one) has point blank refused consideration on the basis that it was wear and tear. They will pay out for damage to the kitchen ceiling which is pretty minimal.

Is this standard??? I appreciate that insurance companies are not maintenance companies but would you expect them to at least come out and survey the damage and assess how it came about. If it was from a leaky seal then fair enough but equally something could have dropped onto the pipe and damaged it.

She has spent all day clearing up and has never had to claim for anything so is pretty stressed at the moment.

Has anyone here successfully challenged wear and tear??

I would expect the insurance to over damage oaused by the leak, but not the leak itself.
You can buy plumbing and drains policy from companies like Homeserve/British Gas/Water boards.... their policies would fix the leaks.

TSx

elliebobs wrote: »

Hello all, hopefully you can help my friend out with her bathroom nightmare.

Basically, her waste pipe has leaked and pretty much wrecked her bathroom and the floor (with some damage to the kitchen ceiling).

The insurance company (sorry but I don't know which one) has point blank refused consideration on the basis that it was wear and tear. They will pay out for damage to the kitchen ceiling which is pretty minimal.

Is this standard??? I appreciate that insurance companies are not maintenance companies but would you expect them to at least come out and survey the damage and assess how it came about. If it was from a leaky seal then fair enough but equally something could have dropped onto the pipe and damaged it.

She has spent all day clearing up and has never had to claim for anything so is pretty stressed at the moment.

Has anyone here successfully challenged wear and tear??

It depends on the insurer and policy wording but the 'usual' way of dealing with an escape of water is to cover any resultant damage but not cover plumbing repairs themselves.

Some policies cover the costs of tracing and accessing the leak but it's not universal.

I personally don't think it's wise to get someone from the insurer out just to repudiate the claim because you then have to declare it as a claim (with a pay out) to future insurers.

Who is the policy with and do you have a link to the policy booklet?

elliebobs

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.

I'm posting on behalf of my friend and don't know who she is insured with. Can find out tomorrow though.

Apparantly they need a whole new bathroom suite so the damage must have been quite substantial.

dacouch

How has a water leak damaged the sink, bath and toilet when they are ceramic

Ian_W

What is the damage to the bathroom that warrants the description "wrecked"?
ETA - Yeah, how has it damaged ceramics?

AFAIK most household buildings insurance cover damage from escape of water from domestic systems and central heating. Though I did hear recently that one insurer won't cover it if the property is unoccupied for most than 5 days, most allow much longer absences.

A couple of years ago we returned from a fortnights holiday to find a pool of water on the kitchen floor which came from a leaky cistern in an upstairs en-suite. Got the leak fixed on a domestic emergency insurance and our buildings insurer (L&G at the time) paid out for the damage to both the ceiling and the tiled floor of the en-suite which had lifted due to the water getting under the tiles.

As others have asked, who are the insurers?

elliebobs

Sorry but it seems I got my wires crossed; still don't know who the insurers are but the toilet needs to be replaced and the floor has had to be lifted in order to gain access. The company said that they would only pay for the damage to the kitchen ceiling.



the rest of the suite is ok

elliebobs

I *think* that the toilet had to be replaced as it was damaged whilst they were trying to locate the source of the leak. i can understand the company not paying out for that but feel that the damage to the floor should be covered.

dacouch

It would depend if the policy includes Trace and Access Cover, as others have mentioned we really need to know which Insurer it is

TSx

elliebobs wrote: »

Sorry but it seems I got my wires crossed; still don't know who the insurers are but the toilet needs to be replaced and the floor has had to be lifted in order to gain access. The company said that they would only pay for the damage to the kitchen ceiling.



the rest of the suite is ok

I have a feeling that all the work required in the bathroom is "trace and access" - that is, it is purely to locate and access the leak rather than damage caused by water.

Any damage caused by the leak itself should be covered, any work to gain access to that leak (and reinstate the bathroom afterwards) would only be covered if the policy includes trace and access cover, and if they've said they won't cover those costs, I suspect it doesn't.

hcb42

elliebobs wrote: »

Is this standard??? I appreciate that insurance companies are not maintenance companies but would you expect them to at least come out and survey the damage and assess how it came about. If it was from a leaky seal then fair enough but equally something could have dropped onto the pipe and damaged it.

but did it? your friend needs to make an honest claim, this goes for when she rings and reports the damage.

Wear and tear is not covered, subsequent damage usually is