Subsidence?

paragp

do house insurance companies require a "Certificate of Completion" for an extension if we were to make a claim for subsidence?

i think we have symptoms of subsidence but the problem is that the builder that was doing the extension (2 yrs ago) left the job half way and we are still trying to get a few bits of work sorted out to get the completion certificate.

dauphin

I don't know the answer to your exact question, but you should consider the position very carefully before making a claim for subsidence because such a claim will be a permanent blight on the insurability of the house and both you and future owners may well find that you are stuck with the same insurers for ever because no other insurer will take it on.
You don't say whether the symptoms of subsidence appear to be related to the work on the extension. If not, then I would have thought that if there is subsidence a claim would be dealt with in the normal way.
If on the other hand the cracking is in the extension itself, or has appeared in the existing house as a possible result of the extension imposing strain on the existing structure, I should imagine that the insurers would be taking a close look at any exclusion in the policy re. problems caused by defective workmanship or design; and/or as a result of structural alterations or extensions. They may well take the view that the policy is not intended to cover damage caused by poor building work or design, eg if the builder did not lay adequate foundations for the extension.
Have a close look at the policy exclusions and see whether you might be caught by any of them. It may also be worth getting an independent opinion, eg from a surveyor, to advise you on what has gone wrong before you decide that it is or may be subsidence and start hares running with your insurers.
Of course, if the builder is at fault, you also need to be looking at whether he may have assets or insurance which would make it worth pursuing a claim against him for the damage.

paragp

dauphin wrote: »

I don't know the answer to your exact question, but you should consider the position very carefully before making a claim for subsidence because such a claim will be a permanent blight on the insurability of the house and both you and future owners may well find that you are stuck with the same insurers for ever because no other insurer will take it on.
You don't say whether the symptoms of subsidence appear to be related to the work on the extension. If not, then I would have thought that if there is subsidence a claim would be dealt with in the normal way.
If on the other hand the cracking is in the extension itself, or has appeared in the existing house as a possible result of the extension imposing strain on the existing structure, I should imagine that the insurers would be taking a close look at any exclusion in the policy re. problems caused by defective workmanship or design; and/or as a result of structural alterations or extensions. They may well take the view that the policy is not intended to cover damage caused by poor building work or design, eg if the builder did not lay adequate foundations for the extension.
Have a close look at the policy exclusions and see whether you might be caught by any of them. It may also be worth getting an independent opinion, eg from a surveyor, to advise you on what has gone wrong before you decide that it is or may be subsidence and start hares running with your insurers.
Of course, if the builder is at fault, you also need to be looking at whether he may have assets or insurance which would make it worth pursuing a claim against him for the damage.

i think I will get an independent opinion from a surveyor to start with. As for builder not laying adequate foundations etc, this should not be the case as the local council has already passed the foundations during the initial stages of the building work.

As far as i can tell the only relevant condition for the insurance is that the house is in a good state of repair.