Home insurance issue - standard construction

jmmo20

Hi

Small pickle with my home insurance. I've been too naive and made a mistake. a few years ago we moved into our new build property and got home insurance. In the assumptions we wrongly selected "standard construction" because quite honestly we thought the house was standard.

Fast forward we have an issue with one toilet leaking and causing damage so we got the home insurance involved. We had never made a claim ever for home insurance.

The damage is not too much, I've been quoted £2,000 for the repairs. The home insurer sent some people to track and trace and they did a bit of work removing a ceiling and left drying equipment. I have no idea how much that was.

The home insurer sent an adjuster who spent 10 minutes in my home asked some basic questions and left. It turns out he has reported my property as non-standard construction because I have flat roof in part of the house.

1) The adjuster has reported 100% flat roof and this is grossly incorrect. About 65% of the roof is standard pitched roof between 30 and 38 degrees. About 35% of the roof is flat: a terrace and two dormers. First question: how do I challenge this adjuster who didn't even ask me?

2) The insurer has now said they need to notify the underwriter and get back to me. How likely are they to cancel the policy?

3) any experience in how the track and trace work is likely to cost? we're perfectly fine paying the repair ourselves but I suspect the track and trace work will be overly inflated as it's usually the insurance who pays.

4) is this likely to have an impact in the future?

5) this is kind of obvious but the flat roof or pitched roof has no bearing over my claim as it was an internal water escape due to a faulty shower drains.


we are a bit distraught at the moment
thanks

400ixl

Questions on buildings insurance go beyond "standard construction" usually.

Every one I have done has always asked what type of roof, is it tiled etc and is any of it a flat roof and if so what percentage.

How did you answer the more detailed questions?

Is the claim in any way related to the roof? Doesn't sound like it, sounds from your description like an upstairs toilet leaked and water went through the floor and into the ceiling of the floor below.

TELLIT01

If the insurance question was simply 'Is the property of standard construction' and you answered 'Yes' there shouldn't be any problem.  Our house insurance policy has always asked about flat roofs.

DullGreyGuy

Flat roof doesn't change if you have standard construction or not, there is a second question about if you have a flat roof or not and if you answer yes you'll be asked what proportion of the roof is flat. What did you answer to the flat roof question?

jmmo20 said:

1) The adjuster has reported 100% flat roof and this is grossly incorrect. About 65% of the roof is standard pitched roof between 30 and 38 degrees. About 35% of the roof is flat: a terrace and two dormers. First question: how do I challenge this adjuster who didn't even ask me?

2) The insurer has now said they need to notify the underwriter and get back to me. How likely are they to cancel the policy?

3) any experience in how the track and trace work is likely to cost? we're perfectly fine paying the repair ourselves but I suspect the track and trace work will be overly inflated as it's usually the insurance who pays.

4) is this likely to have an impact in the future?

5) this is kind of obvious but the flat roof or pitched roof has no bearing over my claim as it was an internal water escape due to a faulty shower drains.

1) You can raise a complaint and supply a photo of the property to prove it isn't 100% flat roof

2) Your insurance provider is laising with your insurer and so clearly at this point they think you have been dishonest about your declaration when taking the policy out. The first question they'll consider is if the wrong answer was given deliberately, recklessly or carelessly. The second question they'll consider is had the true answer been given would they have offered you the policy.

If your insurers think you were deliberate or reckless they can void your policy and avoid the claim
If they think you were careless but they wouldn't have insured you had you declared it then they can cancel the policy and avoid the claim
If they think you were careless but would have insured you had you declared it then they have to allow the policy to continue and honour the claim however can reduce the claim settlement by the percentage difference in premium.

3) Its not too often in Home that they will pursue you for the sunk costs, they just won't pay anything more. For various reasons the invoiced price for insurance repairs tend not to be as competitive as a local company could be but gives simplicity of a small number of companies to deal with and often their are end of year rebates depending on total spend

4) If they cancel or void the policy then yes, if the policy is allowed to continue then no

5) Irrelevant, used to be a consideration many years ago but the law was updated and its no longer a consideration

jmmo20

thank you all for your replies. 

I went through the home insurance application (I.e. I simulated a quote). This is what the question says

Can you confirm all of the below statements are true?

• Your home is built from brick, stone or concrete and roofed with tiles or slate.

To this I answered yes, because it's built from stone and concrete and has a pitched roof. There is no question about flat roofs at all. And because most of the roof is a traditional tiled roof (over 65% of it anyways) I said yes.

No if I select no I get these options. This is where my naivity comes in, I clicked yes to the assumption because most of my roof is tiled.

jmmo20

I went ahead an requested a quote reporting the 30% flat roof and they gave me a quote and actually way cheaper than what I'm currently paying. good to know.

I have now called them back to reiterate my roof isn't 100% flat, I've sent them pictures and architect drawings.

Hopefully this is a just a blip and we get it sorted soon.

thanks again

DullGreyGuy

Which website is that?

Because you haven't bought from an insurer but some form of intermediary its not that straight forward, it must be the underwriter that accepts the flat roof not the intermediary and a favourable quote you just received would need to be from the same underwriter/insurer... it doesn't help you if one insurer on the panel does accept it but the one that writes your policy doesn't. 

jmmo20

it's Nationwide home insurance - their own website

DullGreyGuy

That has to be one of the worst Q&B websites I've seen... didn't know their Home product was with RSA these days either. 

Having deviated from the standard questions so far probably helps with your argument

user1977

I would certainly argue that it's not clear they mean wholly roofed with tiles or slate (if that is in fact what they mean).

Not sure how much difference it ought to make anyway if your claim has nothing to do with the roof.

DullGreyGuy

user1977 said:

Not sure how much difference it ought to make anyway if your claim has nothing to do with the roof.

CIDRE doesn't require the incorrect disclosure to have anything to do with the claim... if they find out you've made a dishonest or reckless wrong declaration they can void the policy at any time. It's just more likely that issues with the declarations are spotted at claims stage.