Insurance - Do we have a leg to stand on 21 December 2022 at 4:37PM edited 26 December 2022 at 10:05AM in Insurance & life assurance 26 replies 2K views

Kitten_Pie

Thankyou. We have pictures of the grit again we are suspecting this as it wasn't blocked previously and yet there is still water sitting in the sink the drain has red grit type material in it that we can see so it is all us putting 2 and 2 together and potentially getting 15.

I have had a look and there is no chance with the water company.

Central heating wasn't working because the water pressure was low and unable to fill the loop with no water flow. 

We will continue going through the complaint process and get independent advice however going forward what do you suggest?

Do we start getting quotes for the works and get sorted the essential work such as the sink? Are there any grants or anyone who can offer any help?

Just talking through with my husband and his comments are: 

We have been waiting for the insurance company to do an investigation to see what the underlying issue is as we don't understand how this works and it seems more than a coincidence the number off issues with water in this house such as the boiler losing pressure (despite a boiler check mere weeks ago) there maybe more happening we are unaware of. 

With this investigation unlikely to happen is there a company we can call in to check that the house is sound with no leaks that we are unaware of as my husband feels this is the straw rather than the reason for the ceiling collapse.

DullGreyGuy

Kitten_Pie said:

We have disputed their claim but is there anything else we can do? We have launch a complaint with the insurers and complaint management companies documenting what we thought happened based on the information that we had in pitch black with water coming through the ceiling.

What is your grounds of dispute? Or just said you didnt like the outcome?

Home insurance is written on an insured peril basis, ie its only covered if the cause of the damage stems from Fire, Flood, Theft, Accidental Damage etc.  An overflowing sink isnt escape of water from a fixed system, its not flood but as the insurer has already said its either a maintenance issue or accidental damage. The former cannot be insured but the later can be but appears you decided not to. 

AD does cover dropping a can of paint on the carpet, also covers putting a nail through a pipe or not realising you've left a tap open and drowning your home. 

I struggle to see a claim against the water company either... even if the disturbed material caused the sink to block that wouldnt have happened had you turned off your tap and so is likely to get the argument that you were the author of your own misfortune. I am also somewhat surprised that the material disturbed in the pipe would be able to block a sink. Worked for the waterboard during my student days and got tons of calls about water colour post turning the water back on but never about a blocked sink.

macman

So the boiler was inoperative before this incident, due to low pressure?
Low boiler pressure is nothing to do with the water authority, as it's a sealed circuit. It's caused by either a) a faulty EV, b) a sticking or faulty PRV, or c) a leak on the CH circuit. If the former two were checked out by the RGI who looked at your boiler, which they should have been if you told him you were continually having to top up, then it can only be a leak on the CH circuit, which may or may not be visible.
I suggest you employ a different RGI in future, as he's not competent if he couldn't find such a fault.

ThisIsWeird

Kitten_Pie said:

Thankyou. We have pictures of the grit again we are suspecting this as it wasn't blocked previously and yet there is still water sitting in the sink the drain has red grit type material in it that we can see so it is all us putting 2 and 2 together and potentially getting 15.

I have had a look and there is no chance with the water company.

Central heating wasn't working because the water pressure was low and unable to fill the loop with no water flow. 

We will continue going through the complaint process and get independent advice however going forward what do you suggest?

Do we start getting quotes for the works and get sorted the essential work such as the sink? Are there any grants or anyone who can offer any help?

Just talking through with my husband and his comments are: 

We have been waiting for the insurance company to do an investigation to see what the underlying issue is as we don't understand how this works and it seems more than a coincidence the number off issues with water in this house such as the boiler losing pressure (despite a boiler check mere weeks ago) there maybe more happening we are unaware of. 

With this investigation unlikely to happen is there a company we can call in to check that the house is sound with no leaks that we are unaware of as my husband feels this is the straw rather than the reason for the ceiling collapse.

A boiler's system is sealed, and should have no bearing or connection with the mains system (other than the mains being used to top it up). So I cannot see any way that your boiler issues have been anything other than coincidence.

I wonder if it makes any difference whether the tap was left on 'carelessly' by an adult, or in 'helpful ignorance' by a sprog?

The red coloured grit sounds quite implicative, tho'? Depending on where the repair was being carried out - do you know? - you could at least have a smoking gun, regardless of whether it still implies a liablity.

I suspect none of it does. But there is surely an element of down right unfairness here? I mean, none of it would have happened had not X and Y.

If you do have LP, call them up - nothing to lose.

Kitten_Pie

The Boiler was working but loop needs refilling more than we thought was necessary. Boiler was checked with the radiators. He checked the radiator and tightened one but since then we are having to refill the loop more regularly. I have contacted the boiler company to come and check again and waiting for them to get a date in. Assume this is unrelated but we are turning ourselves inside out second guessing what may or may not be happening. The last thing we want to do is take out a loan to get this all fixed to a liveable solution to then find out that we have to redo it as there are further underlying issues we are unaware of.

We realise that we don't have much of a case and are looking at other options. The only thing we really have to us is that the water was off when we left the house, we checked. There was no reason to believe it was otherwise.

Kitten_Pie

This year has been a tough one but on the whole we were relatively unscathed.

I have been thinking we are due some real bad luck soon and to be honest this is a much better situation than I imagined so I can only be grateful that the family are ok.

This week:

• 2 tyres blew on the car -ARGH! AA called money spent
• Ceiling collapses - ARGH!
• Insurance say no - BIGGER ARGH!!
• Rear ended by another car - ARGH!
• Lights go on car - GRRR! booked in for check tomorrow morning suspect more money to be spent.

I also suspect this isn't the end of things and trying to stay positive. If anyone can give me more positive help that would be really appreciated right now.

Kitten_Pie

ThisIsWeird said:

I wonder if it makes any difference whether the tap was left on 'carelessly' by an adult, or in 'helpful ignorance' by a sprog?

I don't think it makes any difference from the Insurers perspective. From ours it was the bathroom the children primarily use and although we don't know exactly what happened we suspect my son tried to wash his hands in the morning and with no water coming out was unable to do so. 

We suspect this because when we came in the house and saw what was happening he burst into tears saying it was all his fault and he should be on the naughty list for ruining the house. We have of course reassured him that  he isn't "naughty" and that we also checked the bathroom before leaving and didn't notice anything wrong.

Earlier today I was driving to pick my youngest up from nursery and noticed that my lights weren't working. As I drove home (have now booked it in to be looked at first thing tomorrow) I thought if I had an accident they would blame me as my lights are off however according to my dashboard they are on. Same thing but the opposite and both result in it being my fault.

SergeantBaker

Kitten_Pie said:

The Boiler was working but loop needs refilling more than we thought was necessary. Boiler was checked with the radiators. He checked the radiator and tightened one but since then we are having to refill the loop more regularly. I have contacted the boiler company to come and check again and waiting for them to get a date in. Assume this is unrelated but we are turning ourselves inside out second guessing what may or may not be happening. The last thing we want to do is take out a loan to get this all fixed to a liveable solution to then find out that we have to redo it as there are further underlying issues we are unaware of.

We realise that we don't have much of a case and are looking at other options. The only thing we really have to us is that the water was off when we left the house, we checked. There was no reason to believe it was otherwise.

The water was off but the tap was open. The insurance company have probably taken the stance you didn't check. 

Kitten_Pie

We checked we always check. Although the water was off there was still a trickle coming through the kitchen tap so when we checked the bathroom there was no trickle there was nothing. There was no reason to believe it was open.

CasualMFW

Christ. How big was the debris coming out of the tap/left in the sink? Presumably it would be some size to block the sink enough for it to overflow? Fingers crossed you get it sorted.