Urgent Advice please

j-hannah

At the start of March I renewed my house insurance and I have come home to a letter from my insurance company saying that my policy has been revoked because of an undeclared claim.... begger the fact that I NEVER made a claim.


I rang up and asked a question of whether tress that I was trying to get the council to cut down could have caused a crack in the front porch and my old insurer (6 years ago) sent out an uninvited surveyor. I am still in possession of their response and I have been fully insured since, but now all of a sudden this was an undeclared claim
I'm stuffed, as I have 7 days to find alternative insurance. I know what this means - HUGE hike in price with a huge excess. They have made me feel like a criminal and now have me by the short and curlies... Have I got any redress, is this worth fighting, is it worth going to the Ombusdman?
Thanks

[Deleted User]

You should contact the Ombudsman as soon as possible and get this disputed.

forgotmyname

Did they just ask about claims or loss/damage where no claim was made?

Quentin

Whenever you report a loss to your insurer then they record the loss on your history.

The crack you reported looks to have been recorded as subsidence related. Does the report you hold make any mention of subsidence?

Although your reported loss should be on your record if they have wrongly recorded an actual "claim" then get this corrected, (the cost of the surveyors visit may have resulted in being a "claim")

But if the crack was related to subsidence, then most insurers require this disclosing for ever more, as is the case over now having a cancelled policy on your record.

dunstonh

You cant go to the ombudsman until you complain to the firm first. If you do, all the FOS will do is send your complaint on to the firm to deal with. That delays the complaint for another day or two.

The key is in the question asked by the insurance company. A previous insurer had, on notification of a potentially claimable event, taken some action that resulted in a cost to them. The "have you claimed...." question often includes wording to include whether you have suffered an event you did not claim on.

Whilst you may not have claimed, there is an event on the record. So, take a look at your home insurance application and see how the question is asked and see if this non-disclosure fits in with that. The FOS generally take the view that it should be answered how it is asked. If the question is ambiguous or misleading they usually go with the consumer. If the question is clear and wrongly answered they normally go with the insurance company.