Rbs dispute

roostersmum

My elderly parents have household insurance with rbs. At the end of last year there was a terrible storm and a neighbours wooden shed blew away and landed on top of their roof causing substantial damage. The house was built in the early 70's so the tiles that are on the roof can no longer be sourced therefore it can't be repaired. Someone came to see the damage and advised whole new roof required. To cut long story short rbs say they will only pay half which means my parents forking out 7,500 of their own money (a huge amount to them!) It seems incredibly unfair to me? I live quite a distance away but really feel they shouldn't accept this? They have been arguing with tbs for some time now and I feel they are ready to give in. The roof looks unsightly with wooden planks covering the felt and I think they just want it fixed. Anyone got knowledge on this?

forgotmyname

Reclamation yard to source the original tiles?

InsideInsurance

Standard home insurers exclude "matching set" cover, in fact the inclusion of it in High Net Worth policies is probably one of the biggest selling points on it for me.

What that means is that they are only liable for the damage that was sustained and not for anything else that is undamaged. In many cases where the set is still in production this isnt an issue because they just buy a new kitchen cupboard door or set of tiles and thats that. The problem arises where either the thing isnt made any more or your not able to buy just 1 earring or such.

The policybook should set out what happens in these cases but the norm is that they will simply pay the cash value of doing your bit of the job based on last known prices etc and then its up to you to fund the rest of it if you dont want one odd door/ patch of different tiles etc. The FOS have on occasions instructed the insurer to pay up 50% towards replacing the rest despite the matching set clause but I dont know of any cases where they've made them pay for all the undamaged elements to be replaced too

Have a look at http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/household-insurance-repairs.html and scroll down to the Matching Set section