Subsidence cover

Dazdot

rs65 wrote: »

If the gable wall of a house collapses due to subsidence, do you think £4500 of crack filling and decoration will fix it?

As with all things there is going to be a type of claim that is the exception. A subsidence claim of an average property, that is showing signs of movement, by means of cracks etc, that would probably have had a traditional or piled solution, would now have cracks filled and decorations carried out, this is the average claim that would be capped.

I would imagine that there are less than a handful of properties countrywide, that due to ground movement, would suffer collapse without other factors, human or weather being jointly responsible.

rs65

Dazdot wrote: »

A subsidence claim of an average property, that is showing signs of movement, by means of cracks etc, that would probably have had a traditional or piled solution, would now have cracks filled and decorations carried out, this is the average claim that would be capped.

I really hope that isn't true.

TSx

This is true - see the subsidence section here - http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/household-insurance-repairs.html - once the cause is removed it's very rare for substructure repairs to be completed these days.

Dazdot

Thanks for this info, very interesting. :beer:

warez22

My house recently had a full underpin done - total cost £98000!

Dazdot

warez22 wrote: »

My house recently had a full underpin done - total cost £98000!

Who was the insurer/loss adjuster?

InsideInsurance

Dazdot wrote: »

I understand your reservation in believing this, I hope you are correct, but I have been assured that it is the claim that is limited.

Its not really a reservation but a simple matter of checking your policy wording. If there is any form of inner limit then it would have to be explicitly stated.

As others have said, there can be commercial limits with certain companies or other agreements but these are not insurance limits. For example prior to recent changes in law a former client used to be paid c£750 per estimated PI case by their panel solicitor on the basis that the same solicitors had to take small track/ non-PI ULR cases for free. Needless to say they could have gotten more per PI case if they didnt have this requirement in the agreement.

It is very possible insurers have negotiated caps in professional fees with certain providers and inevitably the providers have received something in exchange (bigger share of the work, exclusivity, higher rates/ flat rates, less scrutiny on billing etc)

warez22

The Insurer was Aviva and the loss adjuster Cunningham Lindsey.

Pincher

warez22 wrote: »

The Insurer was Aviva and the loss adjuster Cunningham Lindsey.

Same here. Our contact's job title was Complex Claims Co-ordinator. A long chain of admin people, starting from around the year 2000, ending around 2010.

Two separate one year cycle of monthly monitoring. Seven years of crack repairs, followed by underpinning, because the council refused to remove the tree. Three more years of haggling for decorations.

I think the underpinning at the front cost £10~£20k. Hard to tell, because Cunningham Lindsey gave the job to Goodyer, who got some Romanians who couldn't speak English to do the job, who got paid peanuts.

Various repairs, garage door adjustment, and re-decoration must have been £20k+ over the ten years.

If it's looking like they are trying to "manage" you, you need to get your own adjuster. Take pictures of repair work BEFORE they plaster it.

An Irish guy called Kevin turned up once, with his daughter and her boyfriend. He was supposed to rake out the plaster and repair, but he said he was just a decorator. He just scraped on some filler on the cracks, and then try to pretend he was doing me a favour by doing two coats of paint, by roller. Had the cheek of asking for five stars on the satisfaction questionaire. My dining room still looks like Frankenstein's monster, with filler lines instead of cracks.