Home Insurance: Gas Leak repair not covered?

dosh37

This a bit of a long story…

Several weeks ago I experienced a gas leak in my kitchen. The smell was coming from a kitchen cupboard below the wall mounted boiler.

Access to the leak involved removing the built-in cooker housing and a corner cupboard. The leak turned out to be from an iron pipe buried in the floor screed. Tests showed that the leak was due to corrosion in the pipe and not from the iron-to-copper fittings.

Directly above where the gas pipe emerged in the corner of the kitchen is a stack pipe enclosed in a plaster board box. The stack pipe goes all the way up to the first floor bathroom. Upstairs it connects to the waste from the hand basin, bath and toilet. Downstairs it connects to the waste pipe from the kitchen sink and washing machine. I discovered that some of the push-fit rubber seals where the waste pipes connect to the stack pipe were loose and leaking. The water leak must have been happening for some time but went unnoticed because it was hidden by the plasterboard and kitchen cupboards. I replaced the rubber seals myself – not an easy job because it meant cutting holes in the plasterboard box to gain access.

The hot water pipe to the kitchen tap runs directly beneath the waste leak from the bathroom hand basin. The water pipe was covered in lime scale deposits and looked badly corroded so I called a plumber to replace the section of pipe. This involved draining the hot water cylinder and replacing the gate valve which feeds the tap because it failed to shut off the water.

The actual gas repair involved the installation of a new section of copper pipe from the external gas meter around the outside of the house and in through the kitchen wall. The old iron pipe under the floor was disconnected and capped.

The total bill for all this repair work (excluding my own time) came to around £650.

My buildings and contents insurance is with ‘More Than’. When I contacted them I was told that my insurance would not cover the repair cost. It would only cover damage resulting from escape of water. Even then, there is an escape of water damage excess of £350.

To my mind all the problems were caused by escape of water from the stack pipe connectors. As such I should be able to claim £650 less the £350 excess i.e. £300.

More Than (and Royal Sun Alliance who appear to handle the claims) are refusing to pay.

Do I have a case? Should I contact the Ombudsman?

lisyloo

You need to start with a formal complaint to you insurer first.
ask them for their rationale for refusing your claim

dosh37

I have already had several telephone and email conversations with both More Than and RSA.

I provided them with photgraphs of the damage and repair work.

The insurance company asked me to provided written reports from both the plumber and the gas engineers confirming that the leaking stack pipe caused the corrosion in the gas pipe. Neither the plumber and gas engineers responded to the request for a report.

The insurance policy does include track and trace for water leaks but I carried out all the work to gain access myself as I had no heating or hot water. It happened during a bank holiday and I could find no one prepared to come out to help; the Coronavirus situation made things worse. I did not even attempt to claim for the work involved in tearing apart and re-fitting a large part of my kitchen or for the work to repair the holes I had to cut in the plasterboard to access the water leak.

I have paid annual Home Insurance premiums for over 30 years and have never made a claim. The one time I do have a problem, the claim is refused. What is the point of having Home Insurance if it doesn't cover something as serious as a gas leak?

Some insurance policies do not even include track & trace. This can be very expensive if it involves digging up a floor to gain access to buried pipes. Some include a water damage excess of £550 or more. It's a similar story with subsidance - in that case the excess is usually even higher. It's hardly worth paying for Home Insurance at all unless the entire house burns down!

Annemos

Yes and you are hitting a raw nerve with me. 

The homeowner ends up having to try and get a professional opinion, to stand any chance of being able to stand up for themselves within the Insurance Process.

But as you are also finding, getting anybody to respond to a homeowner these days is an utter nightmare. 

It often feels as if the system is rigged to operate against us. 

(Included in this....the quality of work done by insurance-provided contractors and builders.) 

lisyloo

You have my sympathies but you must go through the formal complaints procedure.
The emails and phone calls you have made are all useful for reference but they don't constitute a formal complaint.
You need to do this to get access to the ombudsman.
There is an 8 week clock, so the sooner you initiate it the better to start the clock ticking.

You often get through to a different department and sometimes that way things get sorted.
other times it's a question of waiting the 8 weeks to get onto the ombudsman.
but either way that's the route you need to go down.

Personally I like to take my legal cover separately to my home insurance.
I use this one Quality Motor Legal Protection – £100,000 of cover from only £10.99. (memonline.co.uk)
I read a post on here with a large fire damage claim that was taking ages and they refused to pay alternate accomodation whilst the place wasn't really habitable.
You can't use your legal cover that comes with you home insurance to sue your home insurer so it's better to have a separate policy.
(and yes I know the link says motor cover but they do home/legal as well).
No connection and haven't claimed, it's just the one I buy,

Annemos

That's true, Lisyloo. 


The Poster needs to look at the Compaints procedure. And escalate it via that method. (And they then have 8 weeks to respond to the Formal Complaint.)


It will then get escalated to another team and possibly that will be within another company. 


But the thing is...... in that complaint, he may also need to have the evidence from a professional to support his case. 

It is so difficult to get this at the moment. 

lisyloo

I think may is the operational word here.
the insurer can ask for whatever they like and they can choose to refuse without a report.

I am not sure on the ombudsman, do you know if it’s definitely required or likely to be asked for?

for civil proceedings they are decided on the balance of probablities, so whilst a report maybe supportive it’s not essential.

I wouldn’t let that hold me up kicking of the formal process.

Annemos

I have trawled through lots of Ombudsman cases, because I also have a major problem and I am at that stage. 


In the cases it seems to come out, that the Ombudsman needs a professional opinion and will not just take notice of what the Homeowner says, as a lay person. 


So for example...they say the customer may have sent in photos, but that it was not enough, as the homeowner had not obtained a professional second opinion, which supported the homeowner's case. 


It seems hit and miss, as to whether the Ombudsman will actually order a second opinion to be carried out, before they make their decision.

Annemos

On your balance of probabilities point.

In this case, can the Insurance Company actually show that something else damaged the gas pipe? For example, how old was it? How normal is it that the pipe would corrode through wear and tear, given the age of the property and its gas pipe? 

I would also start the complaint process off. 

lisyloo

Thanks for the info.
covid has caused all sorts of issues and I think furlough has had some unintended consequences.
when we get back to a stage that people have to actually earn money then things will change.

yes, I can understand why the ombudsman would want a professional opinion in some cases

I'd still rather be at the stage of waiting for professional input rather than held up by clock ticking or not following the correct process.

Annemos

Definitely


And I think I would carry on pleading with those two companies for help, too. (The ones he asked for their reports.)


The Ombudsman Service has a long queue, too, of course. And that is also exacerbated by Covid.