Gradual operating causes.

David_InsDef

I'm sorry, but I've just read your previous post again and I think your insurer would argue that even a fierce storm would not, under normal circumstances, cause an adequately secured permanent structure such as an 11m conservatory to become displaced. Your insurers will be looking at factors such as wind speed and duration etc and unless you can demonstrate there was something exceptional about the storm, I hate to say it but I think you will be hard pressed to get anywhere.

Sagwala

David_InsDef wrote: »

I'm sorry, but I've just read your previous post again and I think your insurer would argue that even a fierce storm would not, under normal circumstances, cause an adequately secured permanent structure such as an 11m conservatory to become displaced. Your insurers will be looking at factors such as wind speed and duration etc and unless you can demonstrate there was something exceptional about the storm, I hate to say it but I think you will be hard pressed to get anywhere.

I do see where you are coming from David, but I still need it explaining out how the average householder is expected to pick up on gradual progressive damage that displays no signs.

A tree will blow in the wind for years until one day it may just snap. At what point do you determine that the years of battering has caused no damage, then one day it starts to deteriorate to the point of breaking. Only at this point do you get conclusive evidence of a problem.

I do not know what the answer is, but it is an interesting topic for conversation.

Are your feelings that the Ins Co. will completely deny the claim or may there be room for commercial negotiations? Your thoughts.

David_InsDef

The issue you have is that its not for the insurance company to provide an explanation for why you haven't spotted an ongoing issue - all they need to do is to respond to whatever evidence you can put forward to validate your claim. Remember, they've already declined it.

In part, this answers your question..... right now, as far as they are concerned there's no cover for the damage your property has suffered so there"s no further decision, commercial or otherwise, to be made. It sounds like somebody is advising you to argue that black and white is grey and this may produce a favourable response, or that just the process of challenging may force them to relent and pay the claim in part or in full - this is very very unlikely to succeed.

The best advice has already been produced above in that you should seek a surveyor's opinion / report that concurs with your view that the storm caused the damage - you mentioned that you don't think any surveyor would commit to saying it's as a result of a sudden and unforeseen event, in which case you're unable to prove your policy provides cover for the cause of the damage.

David_InsDef

I find myself comparing your situation to a claim I once handled for a client. In his case all of the outside walls of his house had been rendered and one morning he woke up to find a 3 metre square piece of render had detached and was in a pile on his driveway. It had been stormy overnight and he assumed the storm cause the damage, but the loss adjuster argued not, saying it was a gradually operating cause and declined the claim.

The client objected and got a surveyor in. The first thing he did was walk around the property tapping the render in different places and in about 70% of the time it sounded completely hollow, where the render had lost its bond to the underlying brickwork. The first the policyholder saw of the problem was his rubble pile the day after a storm and I liken it to your situation because like your conservatory, the render had been in place several years and the chap had no reason to believe it hadn't been professionally applied. He also never went round his property tapping the walls - why would he? That said, all the while and unbeknown to him,the render was gradually losing its bond and this presented itself during or after a storm. That said, the storm wasn't the cause, nor indeed was any storm - it just so happened that it helped present something that otherwise would have presented of its own accord with the passage of (not a great deal) more time.

my_names_dave

I'm surprised that a storm has caused the conservatroy to pull away from the building. Usually you see that with subsidence claims.

Due to the costs of the claim you may want to use the services of a Loss Assessor who will prepare and argue the claim on your behalf.