Insurance - Subsidence Problem

Guy8319

Hello,

I spotted a crack in a pillar to my garden room (an extension from the main house) a few months ago and called up my insurance company (Congregational & General) to let them know. While on the phone I asked that if subsidence was found, would I have trouble renewing or getting new insurance in the future. The answer coming back no. A few weeks later, when the loss adjuster turned up (from Carmichaels) I asked if I would have trouble renewing or getting new insurance in the future. The answer again coming back no.

I was shocked that when I tried to renew my insurance with my broker, they refused and said that no one on their books could insure us (due to a subsidence claim) & I was to ring my current insurer. Extremely worried at this point I tried to contact my insurer (C&G) who would would not put me through to their underwriters department, suggesting I go back to my broker.
As my current insurer will not insure me, I am worried that they will not properly fix my claim - otherwise why refuse the renewal?

I phoned up a specialist insurance company to obtain cover, they told me they thought my current insurer had a duty of care to continue insuring me whilst they fixed any claims I had with them - Does anyone know if this is true?
Looking on your website it seems that once a claim for subsidence has been established then there are years of high premium insurance ahead and a substatial reduction in the value of one's home.

Who sets these rules? If I had filled the crack in with some polyfiller, keep on filling it in till I sold the house and let the next poor sod deal with the problem, then I wouldn't have this problem now - How can it be fair that the person who discovers and attempts to rectify the problem gets charged for it?

I'm currently looking for building and contents insurance that excludes subsidence - if anyone can recommend any brokers/insurance companies please let me know.

A list i have already (from looking at the rest of this site) are:
adrianflux.co.uk/household-insurance/
towergateinsurance.co.uk/property-insurance.aspx
legalandgeneral.com/insurance/campaigns/eligibility-page-green/
emberjd.com/specialist-home-insurance/


Useful:
subsidencebureau.com/susidence_need_help.htm
forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=740903

PS. I had a home buyers report commisioned less than 2 years ago when I bought the property and that showed no signs of subscidence - it cost me 500 pounds so what is the point?

I had an environmental report done at the same time (homecheck was used) that did not highlight any risk of subsidence, however putting my post code in now it comes up with - "There is a high potential risk of foundation damage to domestic properties from subsidence hazards within the neighbourhood of postcode XXXX-XXX." Which is quite a change in less than 2 years!

If you were in my position what would you recommend my best course of action to be?

Thanks

Guy8319

thenudeone

Guy8319 wrote: »

A few weeks later, when the loss adjuster turned up (from Carmichaels)

What id the report say?

If it confirmed subsidence, then the insurance company should deal with it and pay for corrective action.

If not, it's less of a problem because you now have a professional report confirming that there is no subsidence.

Guy8319 wrote: »

If I had filled the crack in with some polyfiller, keep on filling it in till I sold the house and let the next poor sod deal with the problem, then I wouldn't have this problem now

But you would still have the problem when the buyer's surveyors find it!

Or even sooner. If you ignored the problem for years then your house fell down, the insurers would try to claim you were partly at fault through your negligence.

Guy8319 wrote: »

I'm currently looking for building and contents insurance that excludes subsidence

If you have a mortgage then such a policy would probably not meet the requirements of the mortgage company (in securing the value of the asset used as backing for the loan).

Phibblet

I am in a very similar situation. And with C&G. Currently the case is with the Financial Ombudsman. I had a crack on the front of our house. I wasn't sure what it was. It's an old house and could have been perfectly natural. I could have filled it, but was advised to contact the insurance company first so they could assess it. I never filled in a claim form. A loss adjuster from Williams Pitt came around. He looked at it and said it was good news - it wasn't subsidence. But that we should definitely get it repaired. Two months later when we went to renew our annual insurance through the broker C&G refused to insure us because of a 'rejected subsidence claim'. All but one of the other insurance companies also refused. In answer to your question about cover - we are now covered for everything but subsidence, but with Prestige.
Following this though we got a separate structural surveyors report. He said that we almost certainly did have a form of subsidence, caused by a leaking neighbours drain. The neighbour had his drain checked and sure enough it was barely functioning. He paid to have his drain fixed, and then I paid to have our crack fixed and the wall strengthened.
It's not the payment though I am complaining about. At best I think C&G in our case have been guilty of incompetence, at worst malpractice. They sent out an assessor who assured us we had no problems (when we did), whilst at the same time branding us with the subsidence tag, and then refusing to renew our insurance. Like you through our own attempt at being upfront and honest we've been penalised and are trapped in this catch 22 situation.
I would advise trying Prestige. They are saying that if after 12 months we have another structural report done and everything is okay, then they may take subsidence cover on. I would also consider filing a complaint with the FOS. I worry that C&G have played the system and our complaint will come to nothing, but at least someone with authority and without bias will have looked at it.

lou-28_2

I ought to look more into my situation regarding insurance. We have just filed a subsidence claim because we have cracks as a result of a tree next to our house owned by the council. The insurance assessor that came out said that once the tree is removed then the cause of it will be gone and therefore shouldn't affect our house value in future. I'm not so convinced. I think once you have a subsidence tag on your house that's pretty much it isn't it?

He didn't mention the cost of insurance increasing but if we stick with the insurance company who are getting the repairs done and it all gets signed off - and the fact that the council are at fault so the insurance will be reclaiming all costs from them, I'm really hoping our premiums won't hike too much. We're with esure not sure how much of issure renewal will be.

pKaTz

I Think our house is showing signs of subsidence. I'd I get a survey done or ask someone to have a look, would they put the house on a subsidence register (if there is such a thing) ?
Would they notify our insurance company?
Is it worth carrying out work myself without notifying my insurers?

Suzyr

If you can get the council to remove the tree, then well done! We've been trying for nearly five years. Our insurers have now repaired the damage to our cracked walls, internal and external, plus a garden wall. The council say because they have "pollarded" the tree and the movement has stopped, there's no reason to remove what is a "civic amenity". Meanwhile we've had to pay our insurers the £2500 excess and the council get off scott free. Somewhere, something stinks.....