Rejected Insurance Claim - Water Damage

makeusvisible

Having never claimed on our insurance before, I have been somewhat disappointed to find out that our recent claim has been rejected.

We are insured with Swinton, through Allianz.

Whilst away in October last year, we returned to find that our conservator had rained in. This impact the inner wall of the house, where all the wallpaper has perished, and the conservatory inner wall, and some electrics.

After submitting the claim an accessor was sent. He was quite negative on the day, and told me that it was due to a failing seal. He advised I would get this in writing.

I never got anything, and after now chasing (Feb 18), I have had a letter, which says;

The damage to your property is as a result of wear and tear, which is not covered.

It goes on to say;

Following our surveyors' inspection, it is our finding that the cause of damage is not consistent with a storm. The lead flashing and UPVC roof covering have failed, allowing rainwater in ingress. There is no evidence of isolated one-off storm damage visible. The recent bad weather has merely highlighted a defect in the roof covering of the conservatory.


My main issue with this is;

1. The conservatory has been in for 9 years, and we have had no damage previously, so believe it is isolated.

2. Surely lead flashing and upvc dont suffer from wear and tear, and definitely not after 9 years.

I'm by no means an expert in these matters, but I can't help feel hard done by. After never claiming, we go away for a week...suffer horific weather which rains in....and I'm told it's "wear and tear".

The conservatory is under a lifetime warranty.... which I haven't pursued...as clearly the conservatory fitters are not going to deal with the repair of decoration and electrics.

I just wondered if anyone had any experience or advice on how we should proceed?

Many thanks

Quentin

Whenever you are unhappy with your insurer the route to go down initially is a formal complaint (their complaints procedure will be set out in the policy docs)


Then if they ignore your complaint for 8 weeks or you are unhappy with the reply you can escalate to the fos for their adjudication at no cost to you


If that fails, then you can still take legal action but that does involve you in some costs which you only recover if you win, so if it gets to that stage get proper legal advice on your prospects before starting a court claim against them

Blibble

Few policies will cover a gradually operating exclusion, and the evidence provided by their independent assessor notes that this damage has occurred by a faulty seal which has worsened over time. As such, it is their belief that the gradually operation exclusion is applicable.

You can do as Quentin says, which is to go through their complaints procedure should you wish. From what you've said thus far, however, I don't feel you'd be successful. I'd have thought your best hope is to get an independent assessor round & see if he / she has a different opinion of the cause of the damage.

FlameCloud

Looking at the Swinton wording I can find online, they seem to exclude internal water damage through into a building unless the externals were damaged as a result of storm weather conditions.

It would fall to you to be able to evidence that storm had caused damage to the conservatory to allow the water ingress.

csgohan4

All house insurance policies include wear and tear as an exclusion, even the premiums ones like Hiscox

makeusvisible

Just to clarify....there is no conservatory door involved...or opening.....this is the part which joins the conservatory to the house....there are no openings/windows in that area.

BooJewels

I suppose one way to approach it is how the situation might have differed had you been at home at the time?

If you were at home and inclement weather hit and you spotted an ingress of water due to a failing seal/connection, you would have taken appropriate action to minimise internal damage and then repair/block the point of ingress?

Presumably the damage you found when you came home from your holiday was rather worse due to being allowed to continue unchecked? That would fit with his comment "no evidence of isolated one-off storm damage visible".

Perhaps not helpful, but I can see how he drew the conclusion that he did.

[Deleted User]

makeusvisible wrote: »

Just to clarify....there is no conservatory door involved...or opening.....this is the part which joins the conservatory to the house....there are no openings/windows in that area.

You have an obligation to maintain those joints though if you want insurance to cover you. If a storm had actually damaged your conservatory it would be different but it sounds like wear and tear as they said.