Roof claim refused - surveyor blame Maintenance ???

mario75

We have insurance with Sheeilas Wheels / Esure. We made a claim few weeks ago after very windy day and by which few bonnet tiles has been blown off from the roof. Never had problem with it before. Basically Esure instructed Imperial Consultants to estimate and asses repair.
Today young man came, without waiting for us to come home( he arrived before we got home), he came into our garden and using his ladders got to the roof, took some pictures etc. Straight away when he saw us, he stated that is is lack of maintenance not because of the storm, that its old roof and it is no way insurance will cover this. That he will state this in his report and basically started to laugh. That he has photos of rusted nails that keep tiles on the roof and it is our fault etc etc etc

Gap in place of missing tiles caused leaking through to0 our bedroom, which was reported as well, but again guy was arrogant and every minute repeated that insurance wont cover this.

My question is what I can do now? Does insurance can refuse my claim because rusty nails? What should I do next? Where should I go? I have had to building/roofing company to estimate the job and both were pretty sure that insurance will cover this as it is clearly caused by storm. Any advice appreciated.

forgotmyname

They can refuse to payout if the roof had not been maintained to a reasonable standard.

If the fixings that secure the tiles have rusted through and no longer do their job then it will be deemed to be a maintenance issue.

You may need to get the roof checked yourself if you want to complain.

FlameCloud

The policy you have, like the majority of policies is what is known as a perils based one. The peril you are looking at hear is for Storm- so you would need to prove that a storm was the cause of the loss.

Unlike a lot of insurers, esure define what a storm is, although whether this would stand up is another thing. From memory, it also excludes water ingress from a roof even under AD if there is no storm damage to the roof itself.

hugoshavez

forgotmyname wrote: »

They can refuse to payout if the roof had not been maintained to a reasonable standard.

Or if the cause is gadually operating, like nail fatigue.

TSx

forgotmyname wrote: »

They can refuse to payout if the roof had not been maintained to a reasonable standard.

I don't want to disagree, but from a slightly different perspective, the FOS would take a much more lenient viewpoint. The philosophy that tends to be followed by the FOS is that if the damage to the roof was caused by a one-off storm event (regardless of the existing condition of the roof) then it should be covered. Apologies if that's what you were getting at.

In this case, it sounds like no such one-off event has occured, and then there would be no cover under the policy as advised already

mario75

It was caused by storm/strong wind and we found tiles on the ground when we came back from work. It was extremaly windy at that day.I reported the same evening. Tiles has been blown off from the front of the property(2 corners-bonnet tiles), not from all 4 sides(semi-detached). Having said that they all the same age so if it would be age related thing I assume more of the tiles would be missing from all side-if that makes sens.

Dollardog

LLoyds refused to cover my damage a few years ago for the same reason, slate roof, said it was just because it was old roof.

Faith177

When was the last time you had any work done on your roof?

maninthestreet

Surely the nails holding down a tile would be covered by the overlapping tiles, so how can you check the condition of the nails?

mario75

I dont know how long ago roof has been checked, but when we bought house 2 years ago it was in a good condition- on my eyes.

Is it mean that everytime I move I need to call for some surveyor to check condition of the nails???? I think it should be covered as with storm even new slates can be easily blown off.

dacouch

Did you have a full survey carried out when you moved in and did it mention the roof?