Can I insist how my house is repaired?

littlerock

Posters who follow this forum will be aware that I am currently having my house and contents restored, under insurance, after a disastrous fire next door led to my house suffering severe water damage.

There was an initial hiccup when my buildings insurer misclassified the damage but that was sorted and it has now accepted liability and is treating it as a major claim with its own loss adjusters. It has all been very distressing, as I have lived here for 30 years and it is a beautiful late Victorian house (officially a Building of Townscape Merit) in a conservation area. Inside it is full of things like moulded plaster ceilings, stained glass in the windows etc.

This was why I bought it and it has been furnished and decorated in the same style. It has also been maintained in very good order and only recently had a new roof and the hall floors sanded and stained. The kitchen was fitted with solid wood Victorian style cabinets and wall tiles.

One thing I am not is under-insured. My buildings cover is unlimited and I have generous contents insurance. However because of the specialist nature of the house we keep running up against the insurers limits on what they normally want to spend. For example it has been determined that normal wall drying methods would be too harsh on the lime mortar plaster on the party wall, which is still saturated and a much more expensive drying method has to be used. The roof has to be replaced again, as many of the slates are charred. Slates do not come cheap and it will need a lot. A roof joist was singed and will need replacing.

The loss adjuster has drawn up a budget but things like the special drying methods are exceeding it. We still do not have a project manager because the only suitable firms locally (this is south west London) charge more than the loss adjusters going rates and he cannot find anyone within his approved budget further afield, who want to travel to our area.

The kitchen is Victorian style with hardwood doors. The units on the party wall have to come off. Does that mean a complete new kitchen and can I specify a similar one?

I am not intending to seek any more than replacement or reinstatement of what I had, but as this is a historic house in original condition, it seems to be bumping up against, or even over, my loss adjusters normal limits.

To what extent am I able to approve how the restoration takes place and waht replacement materials are used?

D_M_E

Would have thought that UNLIMITED meant that all costs would be covered and would be questioning why a budget limit (target) has been set/given to the adjusters.

Is there anything in your policy documents about budget limits - you need to carefully read your policy and scrutinise the small print and clauses to see what UNLIMITED actually means.

littlerock

I think it is more that the loss adjuster draws up a budget based on an agreed range of costs with the insurer. In my case it is proving difficult to keep within these for reasons outlined above. So he has to keep referring back to claims manager for approval to exceed limits.

I certainly have the impression that we are stuck on hiring a project manager because cost allocated to this in his budget cannot be achieved where I live and all the project managers on the loss adjusters approved panel are in the north or Midlands and do not want to work in South east.

eddddy

Loss adjusters work for the insurance company, and tend to look after the insurance company's interests rather than yours.

Perhaps you should think about appointing a loss assessor who will look after you interests and argue your case on your behalf.

Maybe take a look at this newspaper article: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/insurance/home/insurer-tried-pay-9k-less-34k-house-fire-claim/

(But being a newspaper article, it may not be 100% accurate.)

littlerock

I had a loss assessor working for me until discovered they were misleading me about how they were handling my contents claim . We agreed to part company.....