Home Insurance not paying after burglary, any way to get compensation?

jimmynoon

Hello all,

Not sure where this should go so put it in Insurance sub forum.

I was burgled on 29/12/16 where 3 teenagers came in through the back door while me and my girlfriend were upstairs and took £1600 (replacement cost, actual cost to me would be much higher) worth of electronic goods. Insurance refusing to pay as the door was unlocked.

I am savagely out of pocket and while the police have caught them, because they are under 18 and the goods have not been recovered, I'm not sure how I am ever going to recover any of the goods they stole.

I know compensation orders can be made in court, but with these thieves being underage, I can't imagine they have the money to pay compensation.

What can I do to recover my losses? Or am I just stuck being £1600 down after Christmas?

Any help would be appreciated, especially from anyone who may have some experience with any similar situations. I can not find any precedent or advise specific enough online and getting a solicitor involved would cost more than the goods.

regards,

Aretnap

Who is the insurer and what's the exact wording of the exclusion that they're relying on to refuse the claim?

FlameCloud

PersianCatLady wrote: »

The OP said that his door was not locked.


Insurance companies don't usually pay out when a door is unlocked.

That's completly not true.

Most theft endorsements are only in force when the property is unoccupied.

jimmynoon

Admiral was the insurer. They just throw some article about I agreed to lock all doors and windows when I took out the insurance.

jimmynoon

They basically said because it was late at night and we were both upstairs, we should have secured the downstairs.

[Deleted User]

jimmynoon wrote: »

Admiral was the insurer. They just throw some article about I agreed to lock all doors and windows when I took out the insurance.

Which article are they are throwing about?

Aretnap

jimmynoon wrote: »

Admiral was the insurer. They just throw some article about I agreed to lock all doors and windows when I took out the insurance.

This is the latest version of their policy book. Let's see what it says

http://www.admiral.com/policyDocs/HH-005-009-Standard-Policy-Book.pdf

Page 11
Always lock all your windows and doors anytime you leave home or if you go on holiday, cancel deliveries and ask someone to pick up your mail
(NB This is under general advice, and is not actually a policy condition)

Page 28: Theft of attempted theft is not covered if it is...
Caused by you or your family, domestic staff, lodgers, paying guests, tenants or visitors invited into your home, including those via any sharing economy platform, unless force and violence have been used to enter your home
While your home is let or lent, unless force and violence have been used to enter your home
Neither of those would exclude your claim.

Page 49: General conditions
You and your family must maintain your property in a good state of repair and take care to prevent any accidents, loss, damage or injury. If a loss does occur you must take action to prevent further loss or damage, if it is safe to do so.
This is a very vague clause which basically just tells you to be careful. At a push it might apply if you left the house unlocked while it was unoccupied (which is what their own advice says), but not if it was unlocked while you were in it.

Page 54-55 detail a minimum security endorsement which only applies on certain policies (usually in high risk areas, or where there has been a previous burglary at the address) but which does indeed require you to lock the doors when you go to bed, or when you leave the house unattended.

So the £1600 question is (1) does your policy actually have this endorsement (if so it should be recorded on your policy schedule - please can you check) and (2) had you gone to bed, or did you just happen to be upstairs?

dunstonh

PersianCatLady wrote: »

The OP said that his door was not locked.


Insurance companies don't usually pay out when a door is unlocked.

Actually the do pay out but they can also reject if you are in a high risk area or have selected security discounts.

They just throw some article about I agreed to lock all doors and windows when I took out the insurance.

This is the most important bit. Your wording suggests you have brushed it off. However, this is likely the key thing to see whether you have a case or not.

If you agreed to have all doors and windows locked when you took the insurance out then it is reasonable for them to reject the insurance claim. So, what is this "article" that you agreed to. What does it actually say?

mattk_180

Theft cover can be quite vague. Does it mention anything about theft that does not involve violent or forcible entry or exit? Haven't worked on residential home insurance in some time but seem to remember that it was sometimes excluded. Either that or there could be some implied condition that you must take every reasonable precaution to avoid such an event and they've determined you being upstairs and leaving the downstairs unsecured as being unreasonable.


It could be none of what has been mentioned in this thread or it could be all of it until you let us know exactly what basis they've used to refuse your claim.

jimmynoon

thanks for this, I've just rang them and explained further and now they have opened up the claim!

jamesd

Thanks, please do let us know how it goes. You might even have to make a complaint to get paid, though hopefully not.