Very Minor Subsidence / Home Insurance

Andy9376

Is it too late now that they have sent out a loss adjuster i.e. is it now on record?

jhe

i dont know what costs would be involved but would it be worth you getting your own investigations done to hopefully prove the foundations are not damaged.
the 1st person the insurers sent to my house,not sure if he was loss adjuster or engineer it was that long ago i cant remember. he had a little look without so much as stooping down for a closer inspection or lifting the grate and confidently told me he was sure it was the rainwater gully causing the problem stating it would be the where the pipe underneath meets the underneath of the gully.(we had a hairline crack above the porch between the brickwork) when i pointed out to him all the houses in sight of mine had the same cracks he decided it was as he said a 'disaster zone'!
he may have been right but all the houses near me have had the hairline cracks pointed and are still standing and look fine to my untrained eye, but as said in an earlier post in your case he might not have the faintest idea

Andy9376

Sounds like it may be worth looking into. You just assume they know what they are talking about.

keystone

I think you need to get a good case together to persuade the LA to modify his opinion or at least ensure that his opinion is a properly considered one. The LA will be an independent contracted by the insurance company to minimise the cost to the insurance company of rectification.

"It is the Chartered Loss Adjuster’s duty to investigate the cause of a loss, confirm that the policy conditions and warranties have been observed and make preliminary enquiries into the nature and probable extent of the claim which the policyholder will be submitting. The adjuster will advise the claimant on measures which will help to mitigate the loss and on procedures. During the early investigations the adjuster will consider whether someone else may have been responsible for the loss and, if so, will obtain statements and physical evidence to use later in negotiations when recovery of insurers’ outlay from a third party or his insurers will be sought.

When the claim is presented, the adjuster will check it for quantity, description and pricing and, agreeing any necessary adjustments with the insured will present a final report to the insurers with recommendations for settlement."

Cheers

jstallan

Years ago we bought a house. Loved it and spent a fair penny improving it to our taste and spec. After living there for 4-5 years I moved mortgage lender to get a better rate and the new lender sent through some paperwork that they had received but didn't require. In there was the certificate for the underpinning that had expired the previous year :eek:

That notification was the first we knew of the house being underpinned. Our conveyancing solicitor knew as he signed the guarantees over to us but didn't tell us. We ended up suing him - didn't like him anyway.

We notified our Insurance company (like honest citizens) and they increased the excess but not the premium (Norwich Union). We employed a local structural engineer - ended up he was the guy who did the work on the house 25 years prior - for a report (at our cost) which came back fine. Come renewal time obtaining online quotes was a waste of time as most refused to quote or gave extortionate premiums - thankfully NU gave realistic premiums and within a couple of years even dropped the excess by 50%.

Went the time came to sell the property, the underpinning showed under 'local searches' (the law changed some time in 2002 which extended the searches). Our buyer was concerned about insurance, so we discussed matters with our, then, insurer who agreed to take the policy on (slightly higher premiums than we paid I might add). Our new buyer instructed a local engineer - amazingly it was the same bloke we used!! - who put them at ease.

If you search through MSE there is a broker or insurer who specialises in insurance policies for houses that have had subsidence or labelled as having subsidence. If the subsidence occurred more than 15 years ago I gather Legal & General will normally treat it as no longer being relevant.

As others have suggested, I'd look at every avenue on getting the insurance record corrected/erased.

Good luck
John

Andy9376

Thanks John. Perhaps it's not a total disaster then. I hope your suing was succesful ha ha