Council tree roots and insurance

Lana1803

Hello, I'm hoping someone can offer me some advice. I'll try and give all the relevant info but if I miss something let me know!

We bought our 1976 end terrace house in 2019 and have gradually been doing it up a bit at a time. 

We noticed some cracking down the brickwork of the garden wall a few weeks ago (definitely wasn't there after the winter frosts) and decided to make the garden our next project.

We dug up the existing "lawn" (moss and weeds 🙈) and found a multitude of tree roots bear to the surface. Some are almost as thick as my thigh. We have 6 trees on the other side of the wall that are on council owned land. 

I got in touch asking them to come and take a look. The guy said it was 50/50 whether we'd be successful in a claim against the council because it's hard to prove that tree roots can cause that sort of damage and that we should just chop them at the wall and that was that. He said they'd be unwilling to do anything until made to by a legal decision. 

I'm in two minds as to whether I ought to get in touch with my house insurance as I'm a bit worried they'll say tough as well and that they'll charge us more at renewal time as a result of speaking with them regardless of the outcome. 

Can anyone explain the process to me please and I'd welcome opinions on whether I should claim or not. Thanks 

Annemos

Some questions for you:

1. What type of trees are the 6 trees? 

2. Do you have any idea if they are older than your house. Or younger?

3. How far is each tree from your actual house? (And/or garage) 

4. Do you know if you are on a clay soil? 

Aretnap

Lana1803 said:

I'm in two minds as to whether I ought to get in touch with my house insurance as I'm a bit worried they'll say tough as well and that they'll charge us more at renewal time as a result of speaking with them regardless of the outcome.  

As far as claiming on your own policy goes, you need to read your policy documents carefully, however the likelihood is that this will not be covered.

Most home insurance policies are written on an insured perils basis, which means that they come with a list of "perils" that are covered - fire, flood, subsidence, storm damage etc - and to make a claim you have to be able to say which peril caused the damage that you're claiming for. If it's not caused by a listed peril, there's no claim. 

The only peril that might apply is subsidence/heave - however subsidence sections are usually written so as to exclude damage to things like sheds and garden walls, unless the house itself also suffers subsistence at the same time.

If our home insurance policy comes with legal cover they should have a helpline that you can call for some unbiased advice on your chances of a successful claim against the council and/or assistance with the process. 

Lana1803

I'm not sure of the types of tree, one of them sheds seeds in autumn and then they sprout mini trees in our garden in spring 🤦🏻‍♀️ I'll see if I can identify them tomorrow. They're taller than the house and close enough that they'd take a chunk out if they fell. They were all declared to the insurance. 

I'll look into the wording of the insurance policy thanks @Aretnap and I think it has legal cover so I'll double check that. 

Annemos

I agree with Aretnap. 

I also believe many home insurance policies only cover garden walls and paths for Subsidence, if the house is damaged at the same time. 

My Claims Handler also quoted the exclusion clause for "Gradual Damage" at me, regarding my garden wall.

He said that I would not be covered, because the garden wall had been affected by 'gradual' surface root damage! And insurance policies exclude damage that happens gradually.


A neighbour here has just had to have a root barrier installed, because the row of Council trees started to subside his actual house in 2018. That was done through the Insurance who was dealing with the Council.

But if there is no sign of damage to the actual house, then it becomes difficult to get anything done.