How soon can I make a home insurance claim after moving house?

Chris_derby

Hi,

I’ve just moved house and noticed there is a brown stain on the kitchen ceiling which is directly below the bathroom. I believe the stain has got slightly worse since we moved in and it felt damp after we’d used the main bathroom. Looking closely, the previous owner has obviously tried to hide it by painting over it.

To get this sorted, I think home insurance is my only option. I transferred my old policy to my new house when I moved. It says I’m covered for escape of water and burst pipes.

How soon can I make a claim and are they likely to pay out? My concerns are the problem already existed before I moved in and I only moved house last Thursday.

Thanks.

Torry_Quine

If it's an existing problem then will your insurance even cover it?

Aretnap

Is it a burst pipe, or is it an issue with the grout or sealant around the bath/shower? If it's the latter then it is quite likely to be explicitly excluded from the policy.

Also if it's an issue that was already present when you moved in (and it sounds like it was if the previous owner has painted over it) it is unlikely to be covered regardless of the cause.

It is better not to contact your insurer unless you are reasonably confident that (1) it's covered and (2) you want to claim. Otherwise they may well log it as an incident that you will have to declare on renewal, even though they don't pay out - the worst if both worlds. 

Smithcom

Chris_derby said:

Hi,

I’ve just moved house and noticed there is a brown stain on the kitchen ceiling which is directly below the bathroom. I believe the stain has got slightly worse since we moved in and it felt damp after we’d used the main bathroom. Looking closely, the previous owner has obviously tried to hide it by painting over it.

To get this sorted, I think home insurance is my only option. I transferred my old policy to my new house when I moved. It says I’m covered for escape of water and burst pipes.

How soon can I make a claim and are they likely to pay out? My concerns are the problem already existed before I moved in and I only moved house last Thursday.

Thanks.

You can claim immediately........for damage that was caused during the period of insurance that you had on that house.
If the damage was caused previously, your current insurer are very unlikely to get involved
I would suggest that you consider getting quotations for the work asap, before involving your insurer, who are probably unlikely to pay (which would probably be the correct decision if they were not insuring the house when the damage occurred)

Nearlyold

Have you looked under the bath or elsewhere in the bathroom for the source of the leak?

Chris_derby

Arrant said:

Is it a burst pipe, or is it an issue with the grout or sealant around the bath/shower? If it's the latter then it is quite likely to be explicitly excluded from the policy.

Also if it's an issue that was already present when you moved in (and it sounds like it was if the previous owner has painted over it) it is unlikely to be covered regardless of the cause.

It is better not to contact your insurer unless you are reasonably confident that (1) it's covered and (2) you want to claim. Otherwise they may well log it as an incident that you will have to declare on renewal, even though they don't pay out - the worst if both worlds. 

Not sure, need to investigate more  but when we measured it’s around the shower/ toilet area. I asked the previous owner and she thought the bath was seeping slightly. Need to investigate more before I involve the insurer like you say.

Chris_derby

Smithcom said:

Chris_derby said:

Hi,

I’ve just moved house and noticed there is a brown stain on the kitchen ceiling which is directly below the bathroom. I believe the stain has got slightly worse since we moved in and it felt damp after we’d used the main bathroom. Looking closely, the previous owner has obviously tried to hide it by painting over it.

To get this sorted, I think home insurance is my only option. I transferred my old policy to my new house when I moved. It says I’m covered for escape of water and burst pipes.

How soon can I make a claim and are they likely to pay out? My concerns are the problem already existed before I moved in and I only moved house last Thursday.

Thanks.

You can claim immediately........for damage that was caused during the period of insurance that you had on that house.
If the damage was caused previously, your current insurer are very unlikely to get involved
I would suggest that you consider getting quotations for the work asap, before involving your insurer, who are probably unlikely to pay (which would probably be the correct decision if they were not insuring the house when the damage occurred)

I think the brown stain has appeared since we moved in (although think it was there before the previous owner painted over it). I need spend abit of time on it but just wondered if the insurance would cover it. I’ve never made a claim before in 8 years of having insurance. 

Chris_derby

Nearlyold said:

Have you looked under the bath or elsewhere in the bathroom for the source of the leak?

Not yet, when I measured the brown stain in the kitchen and compared to upstairs it was around the toilet or shower area. I mentioned the issue to the previous owner and she thought the bath may have been seeping slightly, but the shower is onyhe opposite side of the room.

TELLIT01

The only way to know if the insurer will cover this is to ask them. As you have just moved in, and the stain was not visible at that time, they are more likely to pay than if you had been in the house for a long time and the leak was likely to have been apparent.  It's probably not a good idea to offer that fact that the previous owner thought the bath had a slight leak.

csgohan4

if it is a leak, they may not cover as they could argue it has happened over time. 

Smithcom

TELLIT01 said:

The only way to know if the insurer will cover this is to ask them. As you have just moved in, and the stain was not visible at that time, they are more likely to pay than if you had been in the house for a long time and the leak was likely to have been apparent.  It's probably not a good idea to offer that fact that the previous owner thought the bath had a slight leak.

I guess.   But if there will almost certainly be no cover, why stain your claims record with a notification?
Insurers will (can) only pay for damage caused during the period of insurance.   If you have just moved in, and if the damage is visible, unless it is literally just occurred, they are unlikely to be paying much/any of this claim.
I would recommend that you get an estimate and decide the best way forward.   By all means, contact your insurer, but if it was me, I would be assessing the cost of the repair first.   You may also have redress against the vendor, but I guess you will need to ascertain the cost of repair before deciding if this is a worthwhile angle.