Insurance query

jadelois

Hello,

Looking for a bit of advice on a query for a family member.

Said individual owns a business premises which consists of a shop and flats above it. A member of the public rammed their car into the front of the property before driving off, this was reported to the police and the person responsible was found and insurance details given.

They have been told to make the claim via their own insurance for the damage to the building and the insurance company are now asking for details that seem irrelevant to the claim.

They are requesting information on the flats, if they are tenanted, who lives in them and whether or not the tenants are working. 

All the insurance policies are done through a broker, have been for 25+ years, the broker unfortunately is currently on holiday and the issue is causing a fair amount of stress for my relative.

I'm not entirely sure what the insurance company is getting at to be honest although it seems as though they are trying to avoid a claim, which if it was an at fault claim I could possibly understand however surely the driver is the individual at fault anyway?
Are they entitled to information about tenants in the flats? None of these are making a claim as it was only the business premises that was damaged.

Any advice anyone could provide please? They haven't made a claim in the entire time they have owned the property and now, even though they are not to blame they seem to be the one under scrutiny?

Thanks in advance.

user1977

Does your relative have the information being asked for? If so, why not just humour the insurers and pass it on? If they don't, why don't they just tell the insurers they don't? Is your relative the immediate landlord of the tenants in the flats? Is any of this likely to contradict the info on the proposal form? (i.e. have the flats been declared as tenanted, if so did the insurers have requirements about the type of tenant, etc?)

jadelois

Yes, they have the information but surely a breach of the tenants rights to be named and all their details passed on for no reason? Surely the tenants have a right to privacy and GDPR.

In terms of whether or not it contradicts the proposal I guess I will have to take a look through the policy with them. 

Considering the damage was the fault of someone else entirely then why can the claim not be directly made through their insurance, is this not a possibility? 

DullGreyGuy

Some insurance providers validate policy information at inception others validate it at claims stage, there are pros and cons to both.  It sounds like you've chosen an insurer that does the later and so they want to make sure the declarations made when taking out the policy were true as some people "forget" to mention things to try and get cheaper premiums - just see the Motor board here where there is near daily recommendations to not tell insurers about incidents. 

 Secondly, there is then validation of the claim itself, if the tenants have had to move out whilst repairs are done then the insurance will either cover alternative accommodation or loss of rent but they will want to validate the units were actually tenanted as he wouldnt be the first person to try and claim for loss of rent on a long term empty unit. 

Have the insurers actually asked for the names of the tenants? Certainly some details can be given without risk of breaching GDPR/data protection and he can always ask their permission if needs be.