Undervalued rebuild cost so insurers ratioing payout

Dips

Recently had a fire in the kitchen. Loss adjustor came and said the kitchen was write off. She did some outdoor measuring of the property.

A few days laters she got in touch to say when we applied for the insurance they asked what the rebuild cost of the property would be. Usually when you apply it tells you the market value will be higher than the rebuild cost so I put a figure slightly below the market value. Loss adjustor told me that the rebuild cost would be over twice the value I put and so the insurance will only payout just under half the cost of the kitchen.

Do I have a leg to stand on? Is the only option to get a independent surveyor to give me a value and hope it's closer to my number? 

Thanks in advance 

tasticz

can you provide us with the numbers? what is the area? what is the location? how many bedrooms?

how much approximate is your property worth in your opinion and how much did you put in? 

Also, for future go here https://abi.bcis.co.uk/ > register for free and you can find the low > median > high rebuild cost of your property for free

Dips

South Yorks, 4 bed end terrace. Probably worth around £200k, I put £190k on the form.

Thanks for the reply. Will check that site

naedanger

If the property is an old traditionally built building (e.g. built of stone) and perhaps not in the most expensive of areas, then the rebuild cost can be significantly higher than the market value. 

(Whereas the rebuild cost is likely to be significantly less than the market value for a recently built property in an expensive area. Most of the cost is for the land.)

Dips

naedanger said:

If the property is an old traditionally built building (e.g. built of stone) and perhaps not in the most expensive of areas, then the rebuild cost can be significantly higher than the market value. 

(Whereas the rebuild cost is likely to be significantly less than the market value for a recently built property in an expensive area. Most of the cost is for the land.)

F***

naedanger

The site given above looks like it is worth a try before considering whether to get your own survey. 

Dips

naedanger said:

The site given above looks like it is worth a try before considering whether to get your own survey. 

Yeah. Will have a measure tomorrow and try it.

I do wonder how much leeway the loss adjustor has though

Dips

Loss adjuster has sent over her calculations. Would anyone be any good at deciphering them and see what they think?

She’s put the figures in m2 but when I put it into the calculator it says it’s too large

daveyjp

What total gross external floor area has she calculated?

Dips

daveyjp said:

What total gross external floor area has she calculated?

282 m2 I think 

garth549

I'm not an expert but it does seem harsh to me.  Assuming they just need to replace the kitchen and there's no structural damage then I don't see how the rebuild cost is relevant to the claim.  This is assuming the higher rebuild cost is because your house would require significantly more expensive construction materials than normal and not because you have an insanely expensive kitchen.

I would certainly go through their complaints procedure and the Ombudsman.  However this will take time.

For future reference - always overestimate the rebuild cost by a significant margin.  To be honest it makes little difference to the quote with most insurers and quite a few offer £1 million or unlimited as standard.