Help... my home insurance did not auto renew ... my house is falling down and I cant claim.

mitce

Hi all
I'm in a right mess!!
My house insurance did not auto renew 2 years ago so for the past 2 years I've had no insurance without realising it.  I only found this after logging in to make a claim and it is no longer there. (yes I'm stupid for not checking more often)
My extension I had built in 2013/14 the foundation has collapsed, we spoke to the structural engineer a year ago and he said he would put it through his insurance (we paid him a lot of money for a raft design as the strip foundation was not going to work). He emailed yesterday to say he had got some quotes for us and felt this was not his responsibility.
I'm now looking at a bill for 100K to sort a problem that is I don't feel in anyway my responsibility (we pay professionals to do these things for a reason).
I rang a solicitor yesterday who said that he could try and sort it but if we dont win then I will have to pay his fees £300/hr and the fees of the people we take on.
I cannot afford this kind of money I am a nurse.
Any help or advice would be amazing.
Thank you.

Nattymax

We recently had bricks in a dividing wall inside the chimney fall down in the recent storm. Wind speed was below the wind force for storm cover to activate at  55mph . An internal camera survey shows the wall appears to not be tied in ie perhaps not correctly built 120 years ago. My insurers say I have no claim as they said they don't cover poor workmanship. So perhaps even if you had paid for cover they may still not have paid out. If ur builder is at fault does it come under NHBC or HSE rules? 
Have you spoken to your council building control dont they inspect and pass works during extensions.did they pass the extension? 

mitce

Nattymax said:

We recently had bricks in a dividing wall inside the chimney fall down in the recent storm. Wind speed was below the wind force for storm cover to activate at  55mph . An internal camera survey shows the wall appears to not be tied in ie perhaps not correctly built 120 years ago. My insurers say I have no claim as they said they don't cover poor workmanship. So perhaps even if you had paid for cover they may still not have paid out. If ur builder is at fault does it come under NHBC or HSE rules? 
Have you spoken to your council building control dont they inspect and pass works during extensions.did they pass the extension? 

NHBC and HSE dont cover extensions as far as I can tell.
We had it signed off by a building control company (not the council) and was all passed.

Aretnap

What is the cause of the problem with the extension. Unless it's subsidence your home insurance would likely not have covered it in any event - faulty building work is not something that is covered.

It is likely something that you will need to take up with the builders and/or engineer. If you'd had home insurance with legal cover then it might have covered the cost of a solicitor... but that ship has sailed. Are you a member of the RCN or a similar body? If so it is worth checking if you have legal cover through them - many trade unions include it with membership. 

Sandtree

Certainly scour all possible sources of legal expenses cover however its likely you will need to pay for an engineers report to establish the cause of the collapse before they can assess the probability of success. 

Given the value of the claim no win no fee is likely to be open to you but they will have the same need to assess the prospects.

theoretica

DO you have employee assistance through work?  Does it cover more than work related issues? 

kingstreet

mitce said:

My extension I had built in 2013/14 the foundation has collapsed, we spoke to the structural engineer a year ago and he said he would put it through his insurance (we paid him a lot of money for a raft design as the strip foundation was not going to work). He emailed yesterday to say he had got some quotes for us and felt this was not his responsibility.

If the engineer supervised the construction method used and it has failed I'd say it is very much his responsibility and that of his PII provider. In the first instance, make a formal complaint to the structural engineer and when that is exhausted, look at his membership of any professional body.

Smithcom

mitce said:

Hi all
I'm in a right mess!!
My house insurance did not auto renew 2 years ago so for the past 2 years I've had no insurance without realising it.  I only found this after logging in to make a claim and it is no longer there. (yes I'm stupid for not checking more often)
My extension I had built in 2013/14 the foundation has collapsed, we spoke to the structural engineer a year ago and he said he would put it through his insurance (we paid him a lot of money for a raft design as the strip foundation was not going to work). He emailed yesterday to say he had got some quotes for us and felt this was not his responsibility.
I'm now looking at a bill for 100K to sort a problem that is I don't feel in anyway my responsibility (we pay professionals to do these things for a reason).
I rang a solicitor yesterday who said that he could try and sort it but if we dont win then I will have to pay his fees £300/hr and the fees of the people we take on.
I cannot afford this kind of money I am a nurse.
Any help or advice would be amazing.
Thank you.

It's unlikely that your home insurance would have covered this incident, since they are not going to cover defective workmanship/design, particularly if the extension was built within the past 10 years.

You should get professional advice as to why the problem has occurred.   Perhaps speak with an independent structural engineer.   And if the original design was negligent/faulty, then you may well have a legitimate claim against the original engineer.

Legal cover may exist in various places - credit card / employee benefit scheme etc.  Failing that, you should/could speak with Citizens Advice.  

If your engineer was a member of a professional body, they may have a dispute resolution scheme.

You need to start getting your ducks in a row

SC