Home insurance claim/Water damage

liam336

Hopefully this is the right section of the forum for this post - apologies if not.

My wife and I are currently in the middle of a very stressful insurance claim involving water damage and wanted to get the advice of people who may have been through a similar situation. In particular, we want to know how we can best deal with our insurer to get the work done - at the moment we're despairing with them.

In January, a water mark appeared on our baby's bedroom wall (above head height) during a period of heavy rain, and then appeared to pool at the bottom. We live in a basement flat and the wall in question is an exterior facing on to an alley. We immediately contacted a damp surveyor who said that it appeared to be water penetration/flooding and that insurers should be made aware as a claim was likely. He also pointed out that the water was now under the vinyl floor (concrete underneath) and that it would get worse very quickly.

We contacted our insurance company (the policy is managed by our freeholder, who also owns the flat above - we're leasehold). They said that we first need to investigate whether there was a leaking pipe behind the wall. A plumber came out and created three holes in the plasterboard wall to locate pipes and found no evidence of any of them leaking. We then asked the damp surveyor back and had them report on other possible causes, sending both the plumbers and damp surveyors reports to the insurer. The insurer then took an incredibly long time to look through the documents, and after a couple of weeks badgering on our part said that they would send out a drying firm to begin the first phase of the work and that we needed to pay £200 excess to them.

The drying firm came out and said that the insurer was still processing the claim and had only authorised this first piece of work whilst they investigated further what was the cause of the water ingress. The representative from the drying firm, who set up an industrial dehumifier, then went on to run some 'tests' (checking salt levels or something) and preparing a report from the insurer. He also noted that there was inadequate damp proofing and that this might mean the insurer will reject the claim due to lack of maintenance (we've only lived here 9 months!) We're now slightly unsure as to whether this person was also an investigator for the insurer.

My wife had a quick phone call with the insurer yesterday to try and clear up what the status of the claim was. They now say that as the insurance policy is 'commercial' insurance taken out by the freeholder as a landlord, and as a result they have to be 100% certain of the cause of the water ingress before they are satisfied that the claim will go ahead.

Are we missing a trick here? What advice would people have for making sure the claim is honoured? The work (drying, repair and preventive) has been estimated at over £7k and we simply don't have that kind of money. We had a previous damp report from when we first moved in that said the room did not have any unusual damp readings.

Thanks in advance!

Doozergirl

So you have earth on the other side of the wall? What has the damp surveyor said is the cause?

A lack of maintenance isn't just about how long you have lived in a property, it's about the time before you moved in. Insurance doesn't cover maintaining your property for you. Did you have surveys when you bought the flat? What did they reveal?

Damp is almost always a maintenance issue. I can't think of a case I've seen that might have been covered by home insurance other than burst pipes.

wealdroam

liam336 wrote: »

Are we missing a trick here? What advice would people have for making sure the claim is honoured? The work (drying, repair and preventive) has been estimated at over £7k and we simply don't have that kind of money. We had a previous damp report from when we first moved in that said the room did not have any unusual damp readings.

Thanks in advance!

Isn't the freeholder responsible for the structure?