House subsiding for THIRD time

misty-mitts

An elderly friend, who isn't very computer literate has asked for our help.  Her house has been twice underpinned in the past.  But it is subsiding alarmingly again.  She has contacted her insurers, who have said that they are not prepared to cover the cost of repairs for a third time!  What should she do now please?

Sandtree

Assuming her policy still covers subsidence then register a complaint and escalate to the Financial Ombudsman Service if you are unhappy with the response. Clearly things will be more difficult if they told her before that they'd be renewing without subsidence cover and she decided to accept.

TELLIT01

How long ago were the previous subsidence episodes?  Did the previous underpinning work come with any form of guarantee? 

misty-mitts

The previous subsidence episodes were in 1996 and 2006.  Both were repaired by the same insurance company.  I don't know if there was a guarantee, but wouldn't it have expired by now?  I can ask if it would affect her potential course of action.  The house, which is 19th century, is built on a flood plain, and if you dig down 6 inches, you hit water right away.  Some outbuildings were constructed around the turn of this century, and are based on floating concrete blocks, and there are no problems with these.  The current damage to the house is very visible.  Her insurance company is saying that as they have fixed it twice, she is not covered for further subsidence.

dunstonh

The house, which is 19th century, is built on a flood plain, and if you dig down 6 inches, you hit water right away.  

That is actually quite normal.  Its about the same for all the houses in our area.  Except we are not in a flood plain.

 The current damage to the house is very visible. 

Is it subsidence or movement?   More often than not its the latter but many people mistake it for subsidence.

Her insurance company is saying that as they have fixed it twice, she is not covered for further subsidence.

Does it say they wont cover it on her policy schedule?