Faulty dampproofing

emmathe37th

We moved into a property a few months ago that has a converted basement. It had been tanked and dampproofed, but there was an indication of damp on one of the walls before we purchased.
The previous owners attempted to sort this out, and we think in doing so have ripped the damp membrane, rendering it useless. They filled the hole with slurry.

A few days ago, the slurry has cracked and water has begun leaking from it, down the wall and soaking the floor.

It's going to cost £3000 to redo the dampproofing of the wall.

Can I get this on our insurance? Our policy document states under exclusions for accidental damage (which we aren't covered for but I'm assuming it's not accidental damage!) that they will not pay for damage due to faulty materials or poor workmanship or design or defective materials.
Obviously, I know I can just ring up the insurance company and see, but if there's a chance we can get this on the insurance, I want to make sure I don't say anything that might make the claim void!

Gra76

I'd hazard a guess that the insurers would be unlikely to pay for this. I'd expect them to class it under bad workmanship.

Would it be worth chasing the previous owners?

InsideInsurance

All but the top end policies work on the concept of insured perils - ie Wind, Fire, Earthquake, Flood, Theft etc..... of the perils your policy does cover which do you believe has caused the root cause of the problem (presumably the crack in the slurry)?

Unless you can trace it back to an insured peril then you have no cover. Even if you can then you have the secondary question of if poor workmanship/ design is actually involved (ie if it was designed to appropriate standards it would have resisted the earth tremor)

From what you say it wont be covered. You may want to check your survey you had done and possibly speak to your purchasing solicitor to see if there is any grounds for complaint against either the survey or seller (though the later is highly unlikely)