Insurance Question - claim on mine or landlords insurance

coffeelover65

Hi,

I live in flat and the flat above me had a burst pipe at the weekend causing damage to my flat. 2 carpets are ruined and 2 rooms will need to be redecorated. The landlord of both properties is a city council.

I've had contents insurance with various firms since 1997 but never claimed before. I put a claim in with my insurer yesterday.

The council manager came out and verbally admitted liability today but still needs to compile a report and submit this to their insurers. If they agree I'd assume they'll pay out.

This would then mean that 2 insurers would be paying out for the same incident which I would guess is fraud and I would expect this to be picked up on straight away.

Any ideas on the best way to proceed as I've already submitted a claim to my insurer, and I have no idea how long or even if my landlords insurer will take to make a decision. I'd rather my landlords insurer pays out so I retain a no claims record and don't lose out via my policy excess (which is £50).

Thanks

Quentin

Tell your insurer you are claiming off the third party.

They will keep the incident on file so you can reinstate your claim if it goes wrong when the ll insurer gets involved.

vaio

The verbal admission of liability by the council housing manager isn't worth the paper it is written on. They are only legally liable if they were negligent ie they knew about a fault which might leak and did nothing about it.

In the old days, councils would generally have just paid up in cases like this but these days with spending cuts etc it might well be a different story and either way it could take ages to sort out.

For that reason I'd be inclined to carry on with the claim with your own insurer, if the council subsequently accept liability then your insurer will be able to reclaim their cost and you should get your NCB & excess back

phill99

You won't be committing fraud as the two separate insurers will pay out for different aspects of the incident.

The landlords insurers will pay out for damage to the structure of the flatbie redecorating and your contents insurance will pay out for the contents that have been damaged e carpets and any other personal possessions.

FlameCloud

phill99 wrote: »

You won't be committing fraud as the two separate insurers will pay out for different aspects of the incident.

The landlords insurers will pay out for damage to the structure of the flatbie redecorating and your contents insurance will pay out for the contents that have been damaged e carpets and any other personal possessions.

As its a council flat the OP is almost certainly responsible for the decorative finishes.

phill99

FlameCloud wrote: »

As its a council flat the OP is almost certainly responsible for the decorative finishes.

But that cannot be claimed on contents insurance. It is claimed only on a buildings policy.

inoutnotsure

You would most likely get 2 adjuster from the 2 different insurers making a site visit. They often speak to each other and agree what is payable under the buildings and contents element. If your lucky (or unlucky) it might even be the same insurance company!

Best way to keep your insurers out of the loop is let the landlord/council make a claim, carry out the repairs and live in it again. The major problem is if the damage is serious, where do you live during the building works?

If you have damaged contents, then you might want to consider claiming on your contents.

coffeelover65

Thanks for the replies, see there's lots of different views on this. I've found out the councils insurers are the same insurers who cover the "legal fees" element of my contents insurance so they'll definitely see if 2 claims go through at the same address.

I think I'm going to phone my insurer today, explain the situation, and see what advice they give. Ultimately I feel the landlord was at a fault and so feel their insurers should pay out. I'll post back with what they say.

System

Regardless of insurance, a landlord has a duty to provide a property that is up to the agreed standard, and to carry out any necessary remedial work. How he pays for it is his affair.

FlameCloud

phill99 wrote: »

But that cannot be claimed on contents insurance. It is claimed only on a buildings policy.

Contents insurance will likely include a section on tenants liability. This will deal with a claim for buildings if the policyholder is liable for them as a tenant.

coffeelover65

I phoned my insurer about this. I was advised that carpets would be covered under my contents insurance, but damage to decorations (walls/ceilings etc) would not be covered as they are elements of buildings insurance. She said it would be better for me to claim through the councils insurers but if they try to avoid paying out to go back to them and make a claim for my carpets through them.