Buildings Insurance Cover

Leodogger

Does anyone know if any insurance company will cover you for sewer pipe damage to the contents of your house ? We have a foul drainage sewer pipe running at the back of the property we are buying and Severn Trent are responsible for it (I phoned them today and they confirmed it is a Public Responsibility sewer pipe covering 4 properties which they adopted in 2001), however they were not sure if they would pay out for damage cased to the inside of the property if there was a leakage.

My solicitor has told us to ensure the Insurance Company will cover us but Legal & General have told me they will only cover for accidental damage on pipes and cables coming into the house, so any wear and tear issues from a sewer pipe breaking down or leaking after many years would not be covered as far as any damage to the inside of the property is concerned.

Are there any companies which do ?

Spikey1

Hi there,

I'd say pretty much all Insurers would pay for the damage caused by the escape of sewage water. Escape of Water and Flood are both standard perils in UK household policies so you won't have a problem. Unless of course you know that there have been previous incidents...if that's the case you would have to tell your Insurers and they may not wish to quote.

As for repairing the pipe itself, that would remain the responsibility of Severn Trent.

Try someone like MoreThan or alternatively just go to the comparison sites.

Best of luck

Leodogger

Spikey1 wrote: »

Hi there,

I'd say pretty much all Insurers would pay for the damage caused by the escape of sewage water. Escape of Water and Flood are both standard perils in UK household policies so you won't have a problem. Unless of course you know that there have been previous incidents...if that's the case you would have to tell your Insurers and they may not wish to quote.

As for repairing the pipe itself, that would remain the responsibility of Severn Trent.

Try someone like MoreThan or alternatively just go to the comparison sites.

Best of luck

Well we had already taken out the insurance policy with Legal & General before I found out that they only cover for accidental damage when it comes to Sewer Pipes on the policy, so I am stuck now. They said wear and tear is not covered if there was a leak. I would have expected a big company like Legal & General, as you say, to cover this.

I have contacted Severn Trent again to see if they would pay for damage inside the property if there was a sewer leak and the fella I spoke to wasn't sure so suggested I speak to their "Leakage" Dept. and they would confirm it one way or another, but you know these water companies. They will try to escape liability if possible, just wanted to tick all boxes and nail down who would be held responsible for any damage caused if the sewer did leak. Someone has to be responsible.

rs65

JWhite wrote: »

They said wear and tear is not covered if there was a leak.

Damage to the pipe that has worn is usually excluded as wear and tear but resultant damage is usually covered.

BobQ

JWhite wrote: »

Does anyone know if any insurance company will cover you for sewer pipe damage to the contents of your house ? We have a foul drainage sewer pipe running at the back of the property we are buying and Severn Trent are responsible for it (I phoned them today and they confirmed it is a Public Responsibility sewer pipe covering 4 properties which they adopted in 2001), however they were not sure if they would pay out for damage cased to the inside of the property if there was a leakage.

My solicitor has told us to ensure the Insurance Company will cover us but Legal & General have told me they will only cover for accidental damage on pipes and cables coming into the house, so any wear and tear issues from a sewer pipe breaking down or leaking after many years would not be covered as far as any damage to the inside of the property is concerned.

Are there any companies which do ?

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/wales/consumer_w/consumer_energy_and_water_supply_e/consumer_water_supply_e/consumer_sewerage_e/dealing_with_sewer_flooding.htm

Spikey1

JWhite...

It sounds like there is a misunderstanding here.

I can understand the repairs to the broken pipe not being covered. But I'm sure that the damage caused by the escaping water WILL be covered....or put simply, the stuff that got wet will be covered.

If L&G have told you that the water damage is not covered due to wear & tear...they are wrong.

Please let us know how you get on when you challenge

Cheers

22johnny22

Spikey1 wrote: »

JWhite...

It sounds like there is a misunderstanding here.

I can understand the repairs to the broken pipe not being covered. But I'm sure that the damage caused by the escaping water WILL be covered....or put simply, the stuff that got wet will be covered.

If L&G have told you that the water damage is not covered due to wear & tear...they are wrong.

Please let us know how you get on when you challenge

Cheers

Fully agree with the above

Leodogger

Spikey1 wrote: »

JWhite...

It sounds like there is a misunderstanding here.

I can understand the repairs to the broken pipe not being covered. But I'm sure that the damage caused by the escaping water WILL be covered....or put simply, the stuff that got wet will be covered.

If L&G have told you that the water damage is not covered due to wear & tear...they are wrong.

Please let us know how you get on when you challenge

Cheers

I am very happy to challenge if I knew who and where to challenge. I have already asked for clarification from them and this is what I was told after being passed through to a person who explained the coverage.

Perhaps other people are labouring under the misapprehension that they are covered and they are not ? :eek:

The only other thing I can do is scrutinise the policy but these documents are notoriously hard to comprehend when looking at the small print. There always appears to be two ways to interpret then when it comes to a claim as I have found when I have tried to claim years ago.

Quentin

If a contract condition is genuinely ambiguous then the law is the interpretation that favours the customer should prevail.

Spikey1

Hello again,

Go to the Buildings section of the policy first....all of the perils will be listed. Is "Escape of Water from domestic heating or water installation" one of them ? Yes...you have cover in place.

Do the same for the Contents section

Now then, against each of those perils there may be some exclusions shown the against the Escape of Water cover (or there may be no exclusions at all !) ......what do they say ?

Finally, there will be a "General Exclusions" section at the back or front of the policy. I rather suspect that 'wear & tear' will be one of them. However, if L&G are using this exclusion to defeat your claim they are wrong. Put simply, the reason why your stuff got wet was because of an escape of water....NOT because they are suffering from wear & tear.

I'm be very surprised indeed if L&G are correct here.

Leodogger

Spikey1 wrote: »

Hello again,

Go to the Buildings section of the policy first....all of the perils will be listed. Is "Escape of Water from domestic heating or water installation" one of them ? Yes...you have cover in place.

Do the same for the Contents section

Now then, against each of those perils there may be some exclusions shown the against the Escape of Water cover (or there may be no exclusions at all !) ......what do they say ?

Finally, there will be a "General Exclusions" section at the back or front of the policy. I rather suspect that 'wear & tear' will be one of them. However, if L&G are using this exclusion to defeat your claim they are wrong. Put simply, the reason why your stuff got wet was because of an escape of water....NOT because they are suffering from wear & tear.

I'm be very surprised indeed if L&G are correct here.

Well I persevered and went back to L & G for further clarification. The assistant clarified the meaning of Accidental Damage for which we are covered on the policy with the Claims Dept. Basically he said if the damage was caused by the sewer pipe breaking and it did not happen due to Severn Trent's non- maintenance of the pipe, in other words if Severn Trent knew there might be an impending problem with the pipe and did nothing, then L & G would not be liable for any damage caused to the inside of the property. He said if the pipe broke or leaked due to a crack and not just wear and tear which should be rectified by regular inspections by Severn Trent, then any damage resulting from the crack would be deemed accidental damage and would be covered. He did say however that the advice I had been given yesterday was partially correct in that "the policy does not cover for wear and tear of pipes".

So basicly rather an ambiguous explanation that still lays itself open to interpretation and blame. However, the L & G advisor did say the chance that the sewer pipe would fail was minimal as regular inspections are made by Severn Trent and all utility companies to ensure there will not be a major break in the system, so fingers crossed, the eventuality of a leak should not present itself hopefully !