House insurance

JJ8271

Hi. My Dad owns his own property which was built in 1889. There is a tree that was planted in the front garden of the house when it was built. It looks like the tree roots are now affecting the pathway and the front wall, pushing up the tiles and making the front wall a bit wonky and it may be starting to affet our neighbours garden. Does anyone know if buildings insurance would cover the work to rectify this or would it be classed as maintenance and enitirely down to him? He doesn't want to call his insurance company to ask them directly becuase as we know with insurance company's they will try everything to get out of paying for anything! Thanks in advance.

shaun_from_Africa

My advice would be to forget about the insurance company and pay for the work to be done privately.

As soon as the insurers become aware of the problem there is a very good chance that it will be classed as subsidence damage and even if there is no actual damage to the house itself, it will still result in greatly increased premiums and it being almost impossible to switch insurers in the future.
Your father will be legally obliged to inform the insurers of any possible subsidence on the property but providing the problem can be rectified before it gets to that stage, I don't see any reason for them to be told.

eddddy

As shaun says, you should avoid contacting the insurance company unless you are sure you intend to make a claim - as they will record a "subsidence related incident" against the house, even if you don't claim.

In your position, I would get advice from a suitably experienced surveyor first.

Is the wall/ path actually moving upwards? Often the problem is that trees cause clay soil to shrink. In that case the wall/ path might sink.


The advice may be to just prune the tree.

And depending on the soil type, cutting down the tree might be a bad idea - doing that may cause 'heave' which causes even more damage.


Here's some info and links: https://www.ricsfirms.com/glossary/tree-roots-and-buildings/

dacouch

It would generally only be covered if the main structure of the house is also damaged

Edithgrand

Most insurance companies now ask if there are trees within a certain distance to your house,just for that very reason.