loss adjuster sending in surveyor what next?

k100danny

We recently put in a claim not through our insurance but against some work the insurance company carried out in my home.

we were flood damaged in 2007 and did not realise this until 2009 when things started to go wrong in the home and massive amounts of damp, insurance instructed the property be fully ripped out and reinstated, we were asked to get two quotes which we did and they came in at 25k and 28k, both of these were turned down and the insurance company (or should i say loss adjuster) apppointed an out of town firm to do the work, we have just found out they actually paid this company 41k to do the work

anyway my hallways floor fell through around 2 weeks ago and we found out we had a serious rot problem and called in the insurance, they sent what i think was a surveyor but this may have been a loss adjuster, he instructed a report/trace and access to determine the cause and if it was an insurable event.

we brought in two local company to view the work and both were horrified at the workmanship, sleeper walls were missing, air bricks had been covered leaving not vents, joists ported into party walls and the cause of the rot was discovered, the original contractor had fitted out floorboards under our front door/doorstep. Internal wood should not be fitted against an outside wall but they should have construced/rebuilt the sleeper wall. The reason the timber had got wet was they had fitted the floor up to the wall under the door step, built into the doorstep at ground level is an air brick meaning the full floor was exposed to the elements at this point and was always going to rot and fail which any tradesman should have known.

we sent these reports to the insurance company aswell as consulting a friend who works for building control, it turns out there were many faults with the refit which did not confirm to building regulations and confirmed the reason for the rot was the workmanship which should have never been done.

at this point the appointed a loss adjuster, he came and was quite friendly and looked over all of the damage, took some pictures and asked some questions. he said what would we like them to do (bearing in mind he said he couldnt make a decision just send a report to the insurance and they would decide) but went on to say start getting quotes for the building work/ redecoration as plaster will have to come off aswell as damaged internal things such as wooden floor covering.

the loss adjuster today called and said they/or the insurance i'm nto sure which were sending two companies. one is a local specialist in dry rot/wet rot etc and I am assuming they are sending this person to either confirm the reason for the rot or to check our quotes for work were fair and reasonable which i think they are, but they also said they are sending a surveyor and this has me worried. Does this mean they are asking for another opinion to try and get out of paying for the damage?

I have spoken to the ombudsman and from what i have told them they said i definitely have a case and they woud expect the insurance to be liable, they cannot say the property was badly maintained as we spent over 10k of our own money with their builders on extras at the same time of the refit and another 5k on new windows and doors, the extra cost it would have cost to stop this bad building ork would have been around £200 so we certainly wouldn't have told them not to do it had we known, not to mention as i stated previously it doesn't meet building regulation.

I have hardly slept in almost two weeks now, i can;t live i the home as floors are missing, place stinks and has dry rot spores all over and as an eczema sufferer this isn't a good enviroment for me. I am worried because if they don't pay I will have to go the ombudsman route and i am sure they will force them to pay but this could take a year/years and the quotes so far have been around 10k plus decorating which is money i just do not have.

any help much appreciated

rs65

k100danny wrote: »

the loss adjuster today called and said they/or the insurance i'm nto sure which were sending two companies. one is a local specialist in dry rot/wet rot etc and I am assuming they are sending this person to either confirm the reason for the rot or to check our quotes for work were fair and reasonable which i think they are, but they also said they are sending a surveyor and this has me worried. Does this mean they are asking for another opinion to try and get out of paying for the damage?

Why worry? They need to know that it is their responsibility to fix this. They are not going to pay £10k without some investigation.

k100danny wrote: »

I have spoken to the ombudsman and from what i have told them they said i definitely have a case and they woud expect the insurance to be liable

Usual response from the ombudsman telephone line. The ombudsman couldn't possibly know whether or not you have a case without proper reports on what has/hasn't been done.

k100danny wrote: »

I have hardly slept in almost two weeks now, i can;t live i the home as floors are missing, place stinks and has dry rot spores all over and as an eczema sufferer this isn't a good enviroment for me.

Floors missing make it difficult to live in but in your first post (other thread) you mentioned that you were aware of a problem including paint coming off walls, kitchen units bowing and mould for months but did nothing.

ps Really no need for 3 threads on the one subject.

TSx

They may mean one of two things:

Either they are referring the a 'surveyor' who will be drawing up a scope of repairs and costing the work required to be able to determine how much the claim is worth. The person who comes out will most likely just be a building contractor and not a qualified building surveyor.

Alternatively (and more likely), the surveyor will be a qualified professional who will be able to draw up a schedule of works which are covered by the insurance. Their job will be to offer an unbiased opinion on exactly which damage is related to the original work and which damage is unrelated.

If you are unhappy with the schedule they draw up, you will most likely need to appoint your own surveyor (make sure they have at least equivalent qualifications to the insurance one).

I wouldn't worry though - in a complex claim with overlapping issues like yours I'd be unsurprised if they didn't get a surveyor involved!