House Flooded 2nd Time - Request £ Towards New Build -Kit Home on stilts? 27 October 2019 at 5:43PM edited 30 November -1 at 1:00AM in Insurance & Life Assurance 9 replies 862 views

Ryancope123

Hi Guys,

I have a family member who's house has flooded for the second time, it has flooded over 1ft and wrote the bottom half of the house - the house itself was valued in excess of £1+ million and damage last time was in excess of 200k, this time it's worse.

It's in the countryside with lots of land and nobody around at all, and they are wondering if possibly they could request a payout towards knocking down there existing home and rebuilding a flood-proof kit home on stilts - to the sum of damages in the current property

The main reason being, the current house sits at the bottom of a ditch and it's destroyed the past 15 years of there life redoing it twice over, it seemed to me a win win suggestion.

Flood proof home
Less chance of insurance claim

Anybody have any professional thoughts on this please?

TELLIT01

Not professional thoughts, but isn't the obvious start point to speak to the insurance company. If they give a flat 'No' there is no point trying to progress thing. If they even give a provisional 'Maybe' there is a point to move forward the discussions.

EdGasketTheSecond

The insurer will look at flood-prooofing measure but I doubt that will extend to a complete rebuild on stilts; more likely waterproof gates/air bricks, barriers; that sort of thing.


Also 'its destroyed the last 15 years of their life' is exagerrating; its no different to someone renting and having to move on. In the end we all die but that doesn't mean it has 'destroyed' the life we had lived. Your family member has a problem now but hasn't had 15 years of their life obliterated have they?

mojo1

Ah, they usual MSE forum level of sympathy from Ed.

Ignore him. Being flooded is extremely stressful and we know what you mean.

The only thing that the insurance company will care about is if it's cheaper than some other fix. It will really help if you can show some costs.

Thrugelmir

Ryancope123 wrote: »

the house itself was valued in excess of £1+ million

With 2 claims for flood damage in 15 years. The value maybe somewhat diminished.

Ryancope123

Actually it's very different.

My family member is a carpenter, the whole house was renovated to an extremely high standard with OAK staircases floors / lined walls / door frames etc - by him and him only.

So yes it is soul-destroying when it's your blood sweat and tears...

Not even remotely the same as renting a house, so without knowing the full facts, keep those comments to yourself.

Ryancope123

To me, it made sense to request a payout vs payout on a flood prone property.

put those funds towards a rebuild.

DCFC79

You dont mention it but what precautions were taken after the first time it flooded ?

Chickenlips

It is unlikely they would agree to this, as the repair costs less the excess would be lower than the cost if demolition and rebuild to a different specification.

That being said, you could suggest that a cash settlement be agreed for the repair works. They could then top up the difference between what the insurer has paid vs how much the works they want to do have cost.

It is usually a term of the policy that they only pay for the cost of the damage.

Bare in mind, it is not the job of the insurer to mitigate further losses. Some may do so as it reduces the risk for them in the long run; however, those that want to completely reduce the risk of further expensive flood claims will simply increase the excess further or not invite the policyholder to renew.

Certainly look at cash settling though, if the intention is a redesign.

huckster

House sits at bottom of a ditch, presumably meaning that water flows off the surrounding land after very heavy rainfall and it is going to happen periodically.

If there are no nearby rivers and it cannot be Insured under the Government backed FloodRE, if Insurers withdraw flood cover at the next renewal (which is possible), then it could be that it becomes impossible to be insured against flood.

The homeowner is going to have to consult experts in flood risk management, to see what they can do. It might be necessary to negotiate with any nearby landowners, if recommended works are beyond the homeowners boundaries.