Home Insurance - claiming under lapsed Legal Expenses cover

Janey85

I have posted previously about a possible claim I may have against the Seller of my current home (I can't post the link below - but it is called Misrepresentation by vendor? Dry rot and is in the House Buying forum)

Stupidly, I don't have legal expenses cover with my current home insurance policy, which started at the end of July 2016. However, I have spoken to a solicitor who has recommended I speak to my previous home insurers whom I did have legal expenses cover with. The reasoning for this is that the loss began to incur when I exchanged on the property in July 2015. Also in my favour is the fact that we noticed the problem (and the surveyor first came out) during that policy cover.

My question is : has anyone had any success in claiming on a home insurance policy that is now lapsed? If so, do you have any suggestions about the best way to approach it? I presume they will try to avoid covering the claim if at all possible!

Grateful for any comments/suggestions!
Thanks
J

Quentin

If you had bought legal cover with this year's cover you couldn't expect to use it to claim for something that happened previously!

Follow your solicitors advice.

losgiganteskid

You would normally have to report any potential claim within the first 6 months of becoming aware of it. So your legal cover providers may reject the claim on that point alone.

Janey85

Thanks for your responses!
Sorry I should have been more clear - the problem only became noticeable around June this year, so less than 6 months ago.

Quentin

Janey85 wrote: »

Thanks for your responses!
Sorry I should have been more clear - the problem only became noticeable around June this year, so less than 6 months ago.

It's when the legal issue happened that dictates which insurance policy covered it.

As previously posted your current insurance which started in July wouldn't help even if you had bought legal cover

Janey85

Thanks for your response Quentin - I think we're saying the same thing (or not saying something different at least!).

July 2015 - house purchased
June 2016 - problem discovered
Insurance cover with legal expenses covers the period July 2015 to July 2016, therefore (I believe!) I should be covered by legal expenses cover of my previous insurance policy as the issue happened during that period and I have reported it within 6 months of the issue being discovered.

BTW, I have spoken to the solicitor, I just wanted to get any hints or tips on approaching the insurance company, which I have now done.
J