Chimney problem

reeree

we have our chimney swept every year but 6 months down the line the fire wasnt drawing up so we arranged for the sweep to come as we thought it was blocked with soot, turns out he couldnt get the brushes up further than six foot as he said it looked like it was blocked with broken brick pieces probably due to the heavy rain, lve phoned the insurance and they are coming out to assess the chimney next week, my question is has this happened to anyone else and what was the outcome thanks in advance for any help

InsideInsurance

In all but the top policies you are insured for specified perils (eg storm, flood, subsidence) and therefore for you to have cover you must be able to link the damage directly to one of the insured perils.

As you have now reported it to your insurers you are going to have to declare the "incident" to all future insurer for the next 5 years and this will almost certainly impact your future premiums irrespective of if the claim is paid or not now.

Because you do not know the cause the likelihood is that it will be determined as simple wear and tear or defective workmanship neither of which will be covered.

Whilst in theory you should report all these types of "incidents" to insurers the reality is in general that people will get a local builder etc in first to determine the cause. If it is insured then they report it and deal with it and if it isnt then they probably forget to tell their insurers and deal with the bill personally.

Sally_A

I'm wondering why you think this is an insurance matter. That sounds a bit harsh, I don't intend it to be - but which bit of the policy would cover you for a blocked chimney? Heavy rain is unlikely to be "storm force".

By alerting them to this incident, you will have logged on file that you do not maintain the buildings as much as necessary, eg gutter clearance, leaky roof etc.

Insurers are there for disasters, to deal with perils outside of your control - not general handymen.

By appointing an assessor, you already have a payment made against your policy, irrespective if they turn the claim down as a "general maintenance issue rather than an insured peril".

reeree

Sally_A wrote: »

I'm wondering why you think this is an insurance matter. That sounds a bit harsh, I don't intend it to be - but which bit of the policy would cover you for a blocked chimney? Heavy rain is unlikely to be "storm force".

By alerting them to this incident, you will have logged on file that you do not maintain the buildings as much as necessary, eg gutter clearance, leaky roof etc.

Insurers are there for disasters, to deal with perils outside of your control - not general handymen.

By appointing an assessor, you already have a payment made against your policy, irrespective if they turn the claim down as a "general maintenance issue rather than an insured peril".

Didnt know what else to do to be honest, but we do maintain the gutters and we dont have a leaky roof etc, apparently this is common in houses built in the 1930s according to the insurance bloke l spoke to, if lve shot myself in the foot then so be it hindsight is a wonderful thing, will come back and let you know what happens next week

Sally_A

Yes, please let us know the outcome Reeree....sorry, my post sounded a bit stroppy - not intended.