Found problems after I moved in - not picked up by survey...

G_M

1) Speak to the surveyor and ask. What harm can it do?Just don't expect too much!

2) Think hard before contacting the insurer. Even if they say a claim isnotpossible, they will record the 'event', and next year's premium will be affected!

3) Didyou notgoback and view between Jan and May...?

4) What about between May and now? Presumably you've been checking the property - if only to keep the 0insurance valid!

aj9648

G_M wrote: »

1) Speak to the surveyor and ask. What harm can it do?Just don't expect too much!

2) Think hard before contacting the insurer. Even if they say a claim isnotpossible, they will record the 'event', and next year's premium will be affected!

3) Didyou notgoback and view between Jan and May...?

4) What about between May and now? Presumably you've been checking the property - if only to keep the 0insurance valid!

I have been working abroad so only just got back to the UK.

G_M

aj9648 wrote: »

I have been working abroad so only just got back to the UK.

But you had someone over here looking after your interests yes?

aj9648

G_M wrote: »

But you had someone over here looking after your interests yes?

Not really - no. Apart from solicitor who was doing all the paperwork.

aj9648

Spoke to insurance - they will investigate but dont think they will pay out for it

ognum

aj9648 wrote: »

Not really - no. Apart from solicitor who was doing all the paperwork.

Not sure I understand your answer here, back in April you have a post that says you were going to look at the house, did you go?

Then earlier this month you have a post that says there is a musty smell in your house, did you investigate this at the time?

I'm not sure how you expect the surveyor to pick up something that you did not see in April or when you had just moved into the house.

Buying older houses always, always comes with issues, you will always have things that need doing and will continue to do so, you cannot rely on your insurance company to pay for maintainence issues.

I think you were a bit foolish to contact them, expect a larger premium next year.

hope you manage to sort it out and make sure you have a slush fund for this type of eventuality.

olly300

aj9648 wrote: »

Ok I assume by this I cant do anything with the surveyor - what about insurance?

And who would I need to speak to have a look - plumber, builder??

Find out where the leak is exactly yourself first then call out a plumber. You will save money by chasing the leak yourself as you aren't paying for the plumber's time to do that for you.

To be honest you should learn some DIY skills as while some tasks are hard lots of leaks are caused by things like trap seals wearing out, incorrectly attached pipes or pipes moving which you can fix yourself.

Also in future if you smell something musty don't leave it find the source of the smell. It will save you money and hassle in the long term.

Crystallady

We've just had a similar problem in our kitchen - the bulge in the ceiling. We didn't get mould but water started pouring through a tiny hole in the plaster one evening. Called out a builder who investigated & said a join in a pipe had deteriorated gradually and finaly broken - he reckoned it had been leaking a while hence the bulge. Insurance say they will pay for the work to replace the plasterboard on the ceiling but the actual repair to the pipe isn't covered as it's wear and tear.

aj9648

UPDATE - brought the ceiling down - lath plaster and found no sign of leak. All I can now think of is that is maybe something to do with the underfloor heating installed in the bathroom?

I can hear a very small dripping noise every 5 secs or so. Can this happen with underfloor heating??

Dan-Dan

Definitely not the toilet cistern ?