How do I prove inspections took place?

Dalglish

Hi
My mother's home lies empty but has a weekly visit from a neighbour to check all is ok - this is good practice but also a condition of the house insurance.
However, a friend has said insurers sometimes are obstructive in the eventuality of a claim as the burden to prove weekly inspections actually took place will rest with me. The same friend suggested the neighbour takes a photo of a daily newspaper showing the date on the page and taken in the house itself but this sounds like a lot of effort.
Does anyone have any other suggestions to confirm with an insurer inspections took place? Many thanks

mildred1978

Dalglish wrote: »

Hi
My mother's home lies empty but has a weekly visit from a neighbour to check all is ok - this is good practice but also a condition of the house insurance.
However, a friend has said insurers sometimes are obstructive in the eventuality of a claim as the burden to prove weekly inspections actually took place will rest with me. The same friend suggested the neighbour takes a photo of a daily newspaper showing the date on the page and taken in the house itself but this sounds like a lot of effort.
Does anyone have any other suggestions to confirm with an insurer inspections took place? Many thanks

Make a phonecall from the landline long enough in duration to show up on itemised billing

Dalglish

Brilliant idea but sadly landline been disconnected :-(

Dalglish

If I had the neighbour fire off a digital camera inside the house there's no guarantee still to the insurance company the camera clock hadn't been altered so rules that one out as well.

vaio

I think you're getting too complicated, if it came to a court/FOS case I'd have thought that a witness statement from the neighbour would be all you need

mikey72

Ask them to keep a notebook and write the visits in when they go. That should be enough proof the vists were carried out, rather than merely relying on memory. It is very rare that an insurer will get away with claiming that a third party is simply lieing. If it ever came to it the insurer would be more likely to be found guilty of slander of libel rather than a judge agreeing the third party merely "made it up" and wrote the book out later if it ever comes to court.

rs65

Dalglish wrote: »

The same friend suggested the neighbour takes a photo of a daily newspaper showing the date on the page and taken in the house itself but this sounds like a lot of effort.

Doesn't sound like a lot of effort really.

As has been said, just a record of when inspections took place should suffice.

If in doubt, ask the insurers what they would expect to see/hear if a claim arose.

Dalglish

Perfect thanks to all. Will ensure neighbour completes register of inspection.
Fingers crossed never need to rely on it!

dacouch

mikey72 wrote: »

Ask them to keep a notebook and write the visits in when they go. That should be enough proof the vists were carried out, rather than merely relying on memory. It is very rare that an insurer will get away with claiming that a third party is simply lieing. If it ever came to it the insurer would be more likely to be found guilty of slander of libel rather than a judge agreeing the third party merely "made it up" and wrote the book out later if it ever comes to court.

The above is actually required by a number of Insurers in this situation, often along with a note of any damage noticed and any action taken. If you follow this method it would be accepted by most Insurers and many courts.

By noting any damage and action taken (Even if it's not urgent and thus you note that you will monitor it) it can also reduce / eliminate liability claims against you

Dalglish

Thanks dacouch and to all, really helpful and a great result to put my mind to rest.