Halifax Insurance

ajsam

Hi all

I am currently in a battle with the Halifax who won't uphold a claim that we are pursuing.

We first had the Halifax out to our property in Sept 2006 and feel that they mis-diagnosed the problem due to negligence. A quick over-view -
Next door had a severe burst last year which caused their living room floor to collapse, we noticed our dining room and kitchen floor dropping slightly at that time so an assessor came out from the Halifax and claimed it was settlement and dismissed the problem at the neighbouring property, we disputed settlement as the house was 30 years old and felt that it was to much of a coincidence for the burst pipes not to have caused this. March 2007 the floor had dropped more, the same guy called and said the same thing.

In September this year we decided to make home improvements, this included taking up the wood flooring in the dining room, wre then saw the extent of the damage, the outside of the floor had sunk over 4 inches. The Halifax still dismissed the fact it was damage due to escape of water. We've had the water company investigate, they bore a hole in the colla[psed floor and confirm that the gravel/stones had been washed away and confirmed that the massive burst next door had caused this. The Halifax are still not upholding the claim as they can see any wet ground....the ground won't be soaking wet as the burst was reapired over 13 months ago!!

I feel that they are being completely un reasonable and just don't want to pay out. I have sent the 4 page complaint detailing every visit, conversation and phone call to them and they have sent their final response. This is now with the FSO and the FSA.

Anyone any further advice or any comments as I don't think this is going to be resolved in our favour.

Many thanks

p.s. They have also said that the damage could be caused by poorly compacted fill material and that's not covered. Why then after 30 years has this only affected my property and no-one elses!! How can it be a faulty build after all this time, and it's only my house out of 55 on the cul-de-sac??

Oscar_The_Grouch

Hi

If this matter has progressed to the Financial Ombudsman Bureau, then I do not believe that this forum is best suited to answer your question.

Essentially, if you have put forward your side and the insurer has sent their evidence to the FOS (as they are required to do), then sit wait for them to review the case. If you are worried that it will go against you, then get an independent structural engineer to review the property. This should cost you around £500 but the FOS may get the insurer to reimburse you the costs if the case is found in your favour.

What I would say is that HBOS are similar to NU: their front line claims handlers could be exchanged for untrained school leavers without anyone noticing a drop in service (personal opinion to avoid anyone from either company, or Direct Line, Axa and other bucket shop insurers, posting their hatemail).

This attitude spreads into their loss adjusters, where they pay stupidly low amounts for unqualified adjusters to look at badly underwritten risks and it is not worth their while doing the job properly. The problem has been exacerbated by the June/July floods, where there have not been enough adjusters to go around and any old numpty has managed to get a job!!

On that basis, I hope you win!

mattymoo

Did halifax ever employ a structural engineer to inspect the damage. It is usually a requirement on this type of case in order to arrive at a definative cause.
This type of work is outside the scope of all but the most specialised of loss adjusters / in house assessors.

ajsam

Hi

Thanks for the reply.

Apparently they were structual engineers (in suits) that came out to look at the problem, however, neither of them did any investigation other that look at the floor. They didn't do any structual work at all that's why we had the water company bore a hole to investigate what was under the concrete floor. Their report stated that the collapse was due to water damage from the neighbouring property but the Halifax have said that because the gravel wasn't soaking wet that that wasn't enough to prove the case. It won't be soaking wet as the burst was fixed over a year ago but the damage is still evident,

What more proof do they need, we have a report from a qualified water engineer giving a cause to the floors collapsing. I just feel that they are trying to fob us off and hope we go away but I'm going to fight this even if it means seeking legal advice.