Building insurance refused because of old coal rejected coal claim

antony131073

Hi,
One of the few requirements from our survey was that a coal mining search was carried out. The report was fairly standard and noted that that movement due to worked seams should have ceased. however, it did reference an old rejected claim back in 96. The owners were not aware of this but after a bit of digging we found out that the claim was made by the owners father when he lived there alone and who is now deceased. we have had the records pulled and the claim for subsidence damages were rejected because the claim was made too long after mining ceased. I think the original claim was a bit of a punt encouraged by a claims consultant. the current owners have not identified or claimed for any subsidence damge since and the surveyor did not believe that there was any evidence of subsidence (nor do i and i am a chartered structural engineer). This should not be an issue but i have had two requests for insurance rejected. i think i could get insurance, for example AXA only ask about subsidence damage in last ten years. However, this refusal to insure just does not seem right. I am also worried about what will happen when we come to sell (hopefully in 25 years time).
Does anyone know if there is a way to challenge these decisions not to insure as it seems ludicrous.

jonesMUFCforever

IMO no you cannot challenge them.It is up to them to offer you cover or not.

I would be more worried about purchasing the house myself to be honest.

dacouch

Assuming you're in a mining area, try a local broker (Not Swintons) who will be used to arranging cover for the properties affected by the mining

huckster

The question is whether there had been any subsidence or not. From what has been said, there was not any evidence of subs, only movement. The claim enquiry through the National Coal Board failed, as I think under that legacy arrangement you had to make a claim within 30 years of the mining working having been ceased. These claim enquiries through the Coal Board are not registered with normal Home Insurers, but may be recorded if someone buying the house obtains a coal mining search.

Anyway back to the question. To be on the safe side, when arranging the cover, you should mention the movement over 15 years ago and that no subsidence had been detected. Legal & General are not concerned by subsidence 15 or more years ago. There is no need to use any specialist brokers/Insurers, but it may be frustrating dealing with many call centres, as when you mention movement, they may want to see a recent structural report.