Home Insurance Won't Pay For Criminal Damage To My Property

TELLIT01

Lord_Frugal12 said:

My real fear is this: I could have this window replaced for £400. But, there are two teenage gangs operating from this block of flats. So, this criminal damage could happen again. And again...

I understand your concern, but it's far more likely to have been random than targetted unless you have done something to become the focus of their interest.

SallyDucati

Years ago I lived in a ground floor flat, similarly only had contents insurance not buildings (which was paid via the service charge).  The whole block was leasehold but managed by a Housing Association (they had adjoining blocks)

Then one night I came home, and a window was smashed.  I did claim through the building insurance and was paid out, even for the emergency boarding.  

There must be something about the windows in your lease, as to who is responsible to replace when needed if nothing else!

eddddy

user1977 said:

Liability for the windows (and how insurance is dealt with) should be detailed in their lease.

SallyDucati said:

There must be something about the windows in your lease, as to who is responsible to replace when needed if nothing else!

Just to avoid confusion - what the lease says about the windows isn't relevant to making a buildings insurance claim.


The lease might say that the windows, internal doors, internal walls, ceiling plaster etc are all the leaseholders responsibility - but they would all be covered by the HA's/freeholder's buildings insurance policy.

(Put another way, if the building burnt down, the insurance claim would cover rebuilding the structure of the building, including the windows, internal doors, internal walls and ceiling plaster.)


So the window should normally be covered by the HA's/Freeholder's building insurance policy, and the policy should normally cover vandalism.

But these types of policies sometimes have very high excesses - sometimes as much as £1000. So it may not be economic to claim.

[Deleted User]

Get a camera and stick it in the window.. They are very cheap these days, £20-30 for a basic but reasonable one.

Lord_Frugal12

I just want to update this discussion after learning a few lessons about housing associations, building insurance and home security.   

In April 2022,  a window of my house was damaged by a brick being thrown by someone. I own the  ground floor apartment as a leaseholder.  But the block of apartments are owned by a housing association.  For two weeks, I was told by the housing association that I have to pay for the replacement of this window through my home or building insurance. I insisted that I should not have to. 

Then, the housing association admitted that my service charge covers building insurance. And from that, I could claim for the 'criminal damage' done to my property. 

So, I had to pay £440 from my own funds. Then, the housing association's insurance company paid that money. 

Initially, the housing officers did not have the correct knowledge to deal with my situation. If something like this were to happen to you, and one hopes it doesn't, I recommend a lot of patience in trying to get the housing association's insurance company to pay for any criminal damage to your property. 

According to the police and the local council, the communal CCTV that should have captured the incident of someone going through my front gate and in to my front garden to throw a brick at a window. However, the police informed me that the camera was not positioned correctly! And it took nearly a month to get the police to obtain that footage. 

In the mean time, I had to invest in two security cameras that are now doing a good job of deterring any more attacks.      

eddddy

Lord_Frugal12 said:

So, I had to pay £440 from my own funds. Then, the housing association's insurance company paid that money. 
   

So just to clarify...

• You paid £440 for the window repair, and you got the full £440 back from the insurance company.

So how much was the excess and who paid it?   Some leases say that the management company must pay excesses from service charge funds - maybe that's what happened in your case.


But that might have been a good outcome for you, but overall a very bad outcome for everyone else on the development.

i.e. You got £440, but everyone else (and you) has to pay the excess. And everyone else (and you) has to pay increased premiums in future years, as a result of your claim.

diystarter7

Don't forget even it is covered there may be a massive excess.
On my property its 400.
My car has a 700 excess.

Sterlingtimes

I am the leaseholder for one apartment within a flat block in Leeds. The management company wrote as follows to owners:



There does appear to be an expectation that the owner meets the cost of the excess in respect of claims relating to his apartment. Apparently, there were historically many claims from owners for the effective betterment of their apartments.