Home insurance claim - what to expect

Regina83

Evening all,

We are about to claim on our home insurance for what an independent surveyor believes to be subsidence. This is most likely caused by rain water running towards the house rather than away (flagstones incorrectly laid). Anyhow, we have never dealt with insurance in our life and we're wondering what to expect? We have been told that they will most likely monitor the cracks for 12 months. I guess we are a little nervous and fear that the insurance will try to get out of paying for remedial works. Any advice on what to do, not to do? Or should we just relax? 

Bigphil1474

We had subsidence in 2011. The call centre we first rang tried to put us off but we persisted and they sent out a claims assessor who came two or three times from memory. After the second or third visit, he arranged for someone to come out and fit some monitoring plates. Can't remember but think they were little glass things to make sure no further movement. They were pretty quick at accepting it was subsidence after visiting, but it was fairly obvious. We are in a mining area but was nothing to do with that - was caused by a shared (water company) drain in next doors garden which was broken and had been leaking, possibly for years. The bay moved and pulled forward a couple of inches. We were with the Prudential, and overall they did a great job.

After a year, and no further movement, they then a greed a schedule of works which took about 6 -9 months I think from start to finish. They had to test the artex for asbestos in the front room and front bedroom, which it had, so that had to all come off. When the repair work was done, we then had the option to have the rooms decorated by their contractor, or take the projected decorating cost minus the claim excess and do it ourselves. We did it ourselves as the claim excess was £1k and the decorating cost was £1,500. We did it ourselves for much less than £500.

Once they've accepted it's subsidence, you just have to sit back and let them do their thing. If i was doing it again, the only thing I would change is be a bit more mindful on which repairs they do. For example, in our living room, we just had one wall stripped back to brick and the ceiling removed, the other 3 walls weren't artexed so were left. The 3 walls that weren't stripped were pretty old plaster. The old ceiling was hiding 2 older ceilings as well, so they were all removed, and a new higher ceiling was put in. When they re-plastered the stripped wall, they tried to blend it in with the old plaster, as well as some of the wall above the old ceiling height - basically it isn't great. Would have preferred to either get them to re-plaster the whole room and pay a bit extra, or get it re-plastered myself and knock a bit off the excess. It's hidden okay with wallpaper, but it does bug me.

After everything is completed they'll send you some paperwork certifying their work. Our insurance premiums were higher for about 5 years after the claim was settled, but only by a couple of hundred quid. The repair works cost around £27k, so we're still in front. It's going back a while but I think it took about 2 years from start to finish.

Regina83

Bigphil1474 said:

We had subsidence in 2011. The call centre we first rang tried to put us off but we persisted and they sent out a claims assessor who came two or three times from memory. After the second or third visit, he arranged for someone to come out and fit some monitoring plates. Can't remember but think they were little glass things to make sure no further movement. They were pretty quick at accepting it was subsidence after visiting, but it was fairly obvious. We are in a mining area but was nothing to do with that - was caused by a shared (water company) drain in next doors garden which was broken and had been leaking, possibly for years. The bay moved and pulled forward a couple of inches. We were with the Prudential, and overall they did a great job.

After a year, and no further movement, they then a greed a schedule of works which took about 6 -9 months I think from start to finish. They had to test the artex for asbestos in the front room and front bedroom, which it had, so that had to all come off. When the repair work was done, we then had the option to have the rooms decorated by their contractor, or take the projected decorating cost minus the claim excess and do it ourselves. We did it ourselves as the claim excess was £1k and the decorating cost was £1,500. We did it ourselves for much less than £500.

Once they've accepted it's subsidence, you just have to sit back and let them do their thing. If i was doing it again, the only thing I would change is be a bit more mindful on which repairs they do. For example, in our living room, we just had one wall stripped back to brick and the ceiling removed, the other 3 walls weren't artexed so were left. The 3 walls that weren't stripped were pretty old plaster. The old ceiling was hiding 2 older ceilings as well, so they were all removed, and a new higher ceiling was put in. When they re-plastered the stripped wall, they tried to blend it in with the old plaster, as well as some of the wall above the old ceiling height - basically it isn't great. Would have preferred to either get them to re-plaster the whole room and pay a bit extra, or get it re-plastered myself and knock a bit off the excess. It's hidden okay with wallpaper, but it does bug me.

After everything is completed they'll send you some paperwork certifying their work. Our insurance premiums were higher for about 5 years after the claim was settled, but only by a couple of hundred quid. The repair works cost around £27k, so we're still in front. It's going back a while but I think it took about 2 years from start to finish.

Thank you very much for the detailed response. Very reassuring! We are currently awaiting a call back by the subsidence team. We have damage along the whole extension spanning across 5 rooms. Our plan is to show them every crack. We were wondering about how they will make good - literally only one side of the room etc. We will probably pay the difference so that the whole rooms will be done. We did hear about it being a lengthy process which is rather annoying as we were just about to start refurbishing works. Won't be able to touch it now for quite some time. Again, thank you very much for the detailed response :-)

DullGreyGuy

Regina83 said:

Bigphil1474 said:

We had subsidence in 2011. The call centre we first rang tried to put us off but we persisted and they sent out a claims assessor who came two or three times from memory. After the second or third visit, he arranged for someone to come out and fit some monitoring plates. Can't remember but think they were little glass things to make sure no further movement. They were pretty quick at accepting it was subsidence after visiting, but it was fairly obvious. We are in a mining area but was nothing to do with that - was caused by a shared (water company) drain in next doors garden which was broken and had been leaking, possibly for years. The bay moved and pulled forward a couple of inches. We were with the Prudential, and overall they did a great job.

After a year, and no further movement, they then a greed a schedule of works which took about 6 -9 months I think from start to finish. They had to test the artex for asbestos in the front room and front bedroom, which it had, so that had to all come off. When the repair work was done, we then had the option to have the rooms decorated by their contractor, or take the projected decorating cost minus the claim excess and do it ourselves. We did it ourselves as the claim excess was £1k and the decorating cost was £1,500. We did it ourselves for much less than £500.

Once they've accepted it's subsidence, you just have to sit back and let them do their thing. If i was doing it again, the only thing I would change is be a bit more mindful on which repairs they do. For example, in our living room, we just had one wall stripped back to brick and the ceiling removed, the other 3 walls weren't artexed so were left. The 3 walls that weren't stripped were pretty old plaster. The old ceiling was hiding 2 older ceilings as well, so they were all removed, and a new higher ceiling was put in. When they re-plastered the stripped wall, they tried to blend it in with the old plaster, as well as some of the wall above the old ceiling height - basically it isn't great. Would have preferred to either get them to re-plaster the whole room and pay a bit extra, or get it re-plastered myself and knock a bit off the excess. It's hidden okay with wallpaper, but it does bug me.

After everything is completed they'll send you some paperwork certifying their work. Our insurance premiums were higher for about 5 years after the claim was settled, but only by a couple of hundred quid. The repair works cost around £27k, so we're still in front. It's going back a while but I think it took about 2 years from start to finish.

Thank you very much for the detailed response. Very reassuring! We are currently awaiting a call back by the subsidence team. We have damage along the whole extension spanning across 5 rooms. Our plan is to show them every crack. We were wondering about how they will make good - literally only one side of the room etc. We will probably pay the difference so that the whole rooms will be done. We did hear about it being a lengthy process which is rather annoying as we were just about to start refurbishing works. Won't be able to touch it now for quite some time. Again, thank you very much for the detailed response :-)

Subsidence is a very long claim process because it's not an exact science. It requires monitoring both before deciding on the fix and after applying it. 

The making good will depend on the level of cover you have chosen. If you bought insurance without "matching set" cover then they will fix whatever is damaged. If you have this coverage then they will fix whatever is damaged and whatever matches it. In certain circumstances the FOS these days believes that the insurer should pay 50% towards undamaged matching items in certain cricumstances.

gutovicky

May I add a small question?
What if you are quite close to the end of your annual term with a Home Insurance provider when you realise you need to make such a claim? 
I mean..  What if, after you've made a claim, the Insurer doesn't then take-on-board/inspect/'accept' the issue quickly - and, in the time you're waiting for them to act, the annual policy expires?
 
And what constitutes "making a claim"?   

Thanks for your time, Vicky

GDB2222

gutovicky said:

May I add a small question?
What if you are quite close to the end of your annual term with a Home Insurance provider when you realise you need to make such a claim? 
I mean..  What if, after you've made a claim, the Insurer doesn't then take-on-board/inspect/'accept' the issue quickly - and, in the time you're waiting for them to act, the annual policy expires?
 
And what constitutes "making a claim"?   

Thanks for your time, Vicky

You need to be insured on the date of the incident. The claim could conceivably take years to settle after that.

gutovicky

Thank you GDB2222

But then, what constitutes a claim in such circumstances?…. would a phone conversation or an email explaining the problem be 'registered' as the 'start of a claim', or would you have had to complete a 'proper claims form'?

Thanks, Vicky