Halifax home insurance payout

stevetuk

Wonder if anyone can please advise?

I had a flood from a burst water pipe in the bathroom that caused the kitchen ceiling to collapse and damage to kitchen worktops (swollen) and flooring as well as in bathroom and landing.

The insurance company approved my claim and sent an assessor. He insisted I take a payout instead of involving their contractors which he said would take too long and would be a pain with so many involved.

I agreed to the cash payout of 2500. I am now getting quotes for repairs and they are all exceeding this figure. The flooring alone is 1600 to replace, a plasterer is quoting 400 for repairs to ceiling and then a joiner has said 845 to replace worktops.

I'm getting other quotes as well but wanted to know if there's a way I can challenge the assessors figure?

SaverRate

I think the time to challenge would have been before you agreed to the settlement.

Others should be along to advise further though. 

Smithcom

stevetuk said:

Wonder if anyone can please advise?

I had a flood from a burst water pipe in the bathroom that caused the kitchen ceiling to collapse and damage to kitchen worktops (swollen) and flooring as well as in bathroom and landing.

The insurance company approved my claim and sent an assessor. He insisted I take a payout instead of involving their contractors which he said would take too long and would be a pain with so many involved.

I agreed to the cash payout of 2500. I am now getting quotes for repairs and they are all exceeding this figure. The flooring alone is 1600 to replace, a plasterer is quoting 400 for repairs to ceiling and then a joiner has said 845 to replace worktops.

I'm getting other quotes as well but wanted to know if there's a way I can challenge the assessors figure?

I think that these insurer cash settlement are a problem, and are equally a cynical way of them avoiding paying VAT (which they cannot recover) !!

When you say that the assessor insisted that you take the cash offer, did he say that this was the only option?    Sounds like he may have been lying and acting unethically, so you could consider raising a complaint.

However, if your repair costs are £2,845, and you have been given £2,500 (assuming no excess deduction), perhaps their offer was fair?

Good luck

SC
   

pramsay13

Where did the figure of £2500 come from?
As said before the time to negotiate was probably before agreeing to the payout, but maybe go back to your insurer (rather than the assessor) with the quotes and see what they say..

stevetuk

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated. So the quotes I've got so far only cover the basics - they don't, for example, include: decorating over the plasterwork, replacing appliances like the microwave/kettle/toaster that were covered in water and no longer work, the light fittings and wired fire alarm that it poured through, the kickboards underneath the kitchen units that have swollen, and so on and so on. I accept there's an element of me needing to contribute but then that is also why I had home insurance (buildings + contents) and what I expect the excess to be for.

The assessor did insist - he basically spent ten minutes telling me that it would be much easier for me to take the cash settlement than to engage their contractors, went through all the cons and none of the pros (like the cash settlement not being enough). He made out he was doing me a favour.

He didn't explain where he got the settlement figure from.

DullGreyGuy

Ideally you'd have gotten some estimates of your own before accepting the figure but we are where we are.

Is the £2,500 gross or net of your excess? If net, what was your excess for escape of water (which is sometimes higher than the normal excess)? You need to be comparing the quotes to settlement + excess as otherwise you arent comparing the same things. Whats the split between buildings and contents?

Was there a conversation about VAT? Some insurers will make the cash settlement net of VAT but say they will reimburse the VAT once invoices are presented

What is your policies position on matching sets? Most policies exclude them, especially if you've bought based on price. This would mean if only one piece of your worktop was damaged they'd only be liable for replacing that one piece and not the whole thing. The fact you many not be able to find a matching piece of worktop to the rest is basically your problem and one you agreed to carry when choosing a policy excluding matching sets. Generally if you complain you can get a 50% contribution to the undamaged elements in certain circumstances. I mention this as you comment on a few things that may be you getting quotes for replacing all of it (eg flooring) whereas the settlement would only cover the damaged part.