Home Insurance Claim ... Help

ClareH80

After storm Freya and during storm Gareth part of my side wall rendering fell down, the storms on that day were over the wind speed and we were told via telephone that we would be able to make a claim.

A surveyor was sent out to our property to look at the damage and now the insurers say they will not pay as the damage comes under the section “due to general wear and tear” our property was in good condition before the storm If the storm had not happened on the day in question the rendering would not have fallen.

Twice we have sent emails to plead our case but to no avail, we are at the end of our tether, we have paid our money to the insurers for five years and have never made a claim why are companies allowed to sell home insurance that is not worth the paper it is written on.

Does anybody have any constructive advice how we can fight this claim we would be really grateful.

Sent from my iPhone

davidwatts

Here's a link to a page on the FOS site detailing their attitude to various aspects of storm claims, including this scenario.

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/storm-damage.html

At one extreme, a perfectly well maintained wall damaged by storm conditions that meet the policy definition should see the claim paid with no problem.

At the other, a poorly maintained wall that was on the verge of falling down anyway will see the claim declined as homeowners can't just let the property deteriorate, wait for a storm and then expect their insurers to foot the inevitable bill.

Most cases aren't as clear cut as either of those scenarios and very few homeowners agree when their insurers rely on the wear and tear exclusion.

All I can suggest is you make a complaint to your insurer about their decision obliging them to give you a final decision. If not happy with the outcome, you have the option of complaining to FOS. State your case as clearly as possible and, if applicable, provide any evidence to support your view. (Not sure what this would be; photos that support your view, invoice that shows the work was done quite recently, independent report that refutes the insurer's view.)

Others may be able to offer more guidance, particularly if more familiar specifically with structural issues.

Rodders53

How does a storm cause just the render on a wall to fall off unless it is already loose due to gradual deterioration reasons?
Granted one may not be aware that the render was blown, but you can see where an insurer is coming from.
Had a tree fallen and hit the wall, causing the damage to the render, different outcome possibly?

Hasbeen

ClareH80 wrote: »

After storm Freya and during storm Gareth part of my side wall rendering fell down, the storms on that day were over the wind speed and we were told via telephone that we would be able to make a claim.

A surveyor was sent out to our property to look at the damage and now the insurers say they will not pay as the damage comes under the section “due to general wear and tear” our property was in good condition before the storm If the storm had not happened on the day in question the rendering would not have fallen.

Twice we have sent emails to plead our case but to no avail, we are at the end of our tether, we have paid our money to the insurers for five years and have never made a claim why are companies allowed to sell home insurance that is not worth the paper it is written on.

Does anybody have any constructive advice how we can fight this claim we would be really grateful.

Sent from my iPhone

My constructive advice is to get your wall and all the other loose rendering repaired yourself.

Unfortunately high winds etc might blow down defective in need of repair walls, "Garden ones" but it is really unheard of to strip rendering of a house wall without the wall having an underlying cause.

It looks like your rending has blown, https://www.homebuilding.co.uk/repairing-walls-brickwork-and-render/

Your insurance is highly unlikely to pay for this type of repair. Sorry:(

ClareH80

I understand where your coming from of course-but our rendering was perfectly fine before the storm there was no visible deterioration.

We are not people that would make up a complaint we are honest hard working citizens.

On the day in question it was a wind tunnel between our house and our neighbours, whatever happened on that day our neighbour actually heard it and thought the chimney had been blown down as the storm was that bad.

Hasbeen

ClareH80 wrote: »

I understand where your coming from of course-but our rendering was perfectly fine before the storm there was no visible deterioration.

We are not people that would make up a complaint we are honest hard working citizens.

On the day in question it was a wind tunnel between our house and our neighbours, whatever happened on that day our neighbour actually heard it and thought the chimney had been blown down as the storm was that bad.

Perfectly understand that.

But blown rendering on walls are the result of tiny hairline cracks that are really not noticeable, letting in moisture eventually separating the rendering from the wall.

If you tap the existing rendering you may hear a hollow sound.

To remove good rendering you need power activated tools or old style a big hammer and a brick bolster. Its not an easy job to do.

csgohan4

basically it's something that has happened over time to weaken the wall and not something that happened immediately like a meteorite hitting the wall

uk1

ClareH80 wrote: »

After storm Freya and during storm Gareth part of my side wall rendering fell down, the storms on that day were over the wind speed and we were told via telephone that we would be able to make a claim.

A surveyor was sent out to our property to look at the damage and now the insurers say they will not pay as the damage comes under the section “due to general wear and tear” our property was in good condition before the storm If the storm had not happened on the day in question the rendering would not have fallen.

Twice we have sent emails to plead our case but to no avail, we are at the end of our tether, we have paid our money to the insurers for five years and have never made a claim why are companies allowed to sell home insurance that is not worth the paper it is written on.

Does anybody have any constructive advice how we can fight this claim we would be really grateful.

Sent from my iPhone

Hi Clare, sorry to hear of your problem and I advise you to write a short letter to your insurers something along the lines of ....

"I am dissapointed that you have failed to respond to my communications on this issue.

I absolutely refute your contention that the wall was damaged as a result of normal wear and tear. If the damage had been caused the day before storm Freya - it wasn't - then there would have been no claim. Storm Freya was not a routine storm but a wholly exceptional and unusually powerful storm and millions of pounds worth of damage was caused to perfectly well-maintained properties and most reputable insuers understood this and settled reasonable claims. I insured my property and paid premiums to you in order to be covered for damage caused by exceptional events such as Freya and to be clear. I therefore request that you send me the specific and detailed structural evidence contained in your surveyors report that supports your position that the damage was not caused by Freya but would have happened on that day without Freya ie it was either "normal wear and tear".

If you intend to persist with this position please treat this letter as a formal complaint and return your response to me in a formal deadlock letter so that I can pursue my complaint through the Ombudsman process"

That might get a reconsideration of your claim. Good luck and keep the thread in touch with progress.

ClareH80

UK1 Thank you so much for this advice, I can’t thank you enough, a little glimmer of hope at this stressful time.

ClareH80

🙁 I wish I had the luxury of having that amount of money sitting in my bank, if I had I would rather pay myself than going through this, I hate complaining.

uk1

ClareH80 wrote: »

UK1 Thank you so much for this advice, I can’t thank you enough, a little glimmer of hope at this stressful time.

I appreciate you saying “thanks”. With these days of competition I think insurers are doing all they can to “minimise” payments of claims. I feel that there is a better than evens chance of you receiving better treatment if you send the letter by “signed for” as they seem not to respond and more than happy ot help again. Good luck.