Home Insurance advice please

maderic

Hi there some advice would be greatly appreciated please.

I have had to rip up my oak floor throughout the downstairs of my house. On ringing the insurance company Swinton who then deal with Ageas they sai yes you are fully covered send us in two quotes etc

I did that and on the one quote the one contractor stated that in his opinion the problem was caused by poorly fitted patio and front doors

I has a call back to say that because I don't have accidental cover on my buildings they will not pay out

I don't think of this as accidental damage I think of that as falling through the ceiling, flooding the house from the bath or dropping a hammer on your granite kitchen work top

I'm really cross about it should I challenge it and how
?

Many thanks
Stuart

maderic

Some more info......further to this they said if an internal radiator or some other pipe would have leaked they would have paid but because rain has possibly come in through poorly fitted doors (which if course I knew nothing about) because I don't have acidental on the buildings cover they will not pay

Quentin

Most buildings policies will cover storm damage, but not for damage that happens gradually.

Check your policy wording, but fear the worst!

(And as you have reported this, it will be recorded and you must disclose this loss to other insurers when asking for quotes over the next 3/5 years, depending on how long a history they require)

dacouch

Bearing in mind that Building Insurance covers specific perils eg Storm, Flood, Fire, Subsidence etc which of the specific perils do you think it would be covered by?

InsideInsurance

Likewise defective workmanship is also normally a standard exclusion if they are saying the doors werent fitted properly.

Spikey1

The posters here are very knowledgeable Eric so if you can give a bit more info you should get some useful responses.

Can you tell us:

What problems led you to having to rip up the oak floor ?
What do you think caused these problems ?
Why did you need to rip the whole floor up ?
Did you take advice before you ripped up the floors ?
What issues were the poorly fitted doors causing ?

Have you had an escape of water or some other 'cause' which is listed in your insurance policy ?

How long ago did the problems start?
How long have you been insured with your current Insurer ?

Cheers