Urgent help please

patchy987

Hi, ok so back in March I had a serious house fire. Work has just started to rectify the house and all was running smoothly until they came to put my new kitchen in and have found damp.

The builders are now saying that they cannot proceed with works until I sort the damp problem out as the insurers won't pay for this work

I have literally no money as I am waiting to start a new job so now don't know which way to turn.

Any advice would be great as I'm currently in tears here

paddyandstumpy

Take a cash settlement for the kitchen, and use the money to pay for damp repairs.
Then you'll need to find the money for a kitchen, but you'll have sorted one issue.

Unless, and big unless, is there a chance the damp was caused by the delay in the work starting since the fire? you may be able to pin that on the insurer, and they'll have to fix it.

patchy987

Is that something I'd be allowed to do ?

The house is mortgaged so not sure if that makes a difference or not

They claim it's not a result of their delay but rather a leaking stopcock. This does suprise me as I've had no sign of damp in the house before this

dacouch

What sort of damage has the leaking stopcock done and do you have an estimate of how long it has been leaking

patchy987

All they will tell me is its caused damp and it's a longstanding problem apparently.

paddyandstumpy

You'll have to check your wording regarding how they pay buildings claims.

You should be entitled to a cash settlement, but this will only be to the value it would cost the insurer to replace the kitchen.
They are likely to have access to better prices than you, so I will warn you that by doing this it could cost you more for the same kitchen, however it helps out your cash flow issues.

Alternatively, as another thought; could you apply for a credit card, there are a lot of good introductory interest free period cards on the market.

If you've not had damp before, push back and say the leak was caused by the fire?

patchy987

I will talk to them on Monday about this, thanks.

I wouldn't get a credit card as lost my job due to the time off needed from stress after the fire. I am starting a new one soon so happy days