Public Liability Insurance/Rogue Builder

Els2105

I am taking my builder to court who was a sole trader.   My only hope of getting my money back is if the court case goes in my favour and the public liability insurance pays out.   Has anyone had any success stories?   Any advice etc would be great - thanks

Aylesbury_Duck

Els2105 said:

I am taking my builder to court who was a sole trader.   My only hope of getting my money back is if the court case goes in my favour and the public liability insurance pays out.   Has anyone had any success stories?   Any advice etc would be great - thanks

There'll be plenty of success stories, and plenty where things didn't go to plan.

General advice would be to remain entirely factual, leave out emotive arguments, don't inflate claims for stress, etc. and provide documentary evidence for every element of your claim.  The first thing to do, however, is to send a proper letter before action, setting out exactly what you require and giving the builder 14 days to comply or you'll commence court proceedings.

tacpot12

I would be surprised if the public liability insurance pays out if the nature of the claim was the work they did. This would normally be covered by professional liability insurance, which not that many traders have.

Public liability insurance would cover damage that the builder caused to your property through their negligent actions, usual claims are for tools and materials that have been dropped onto cars or conservatories. 

Alderbank

What is the legal basis of your claim?

Consumer rights are contractual issues such as whether the work was carried out to a satisfactory standard or whether you have paid for work or materials not supplied.

Public liability insurance does not cover such claims. It covers him for the cost of a negligence claim made by a member of the public (which could be you of course) who has suffered injury or property damage as a result of his business activities.

DullGreyGuy

tacpot12 said:

This would normally be covered by professional liability insurance, which not that many traders have.

Professional Indemnity, the more normal name for professional liability in the UK, covers for advice rather than physical work... so if they'd advised on the size of RSJ and that was proven wrong etc then the subsequent rework to correct or the claim for the building falling down.

Contractors all risks policies cover workmanship 

Problem with all these insurance types though is that they protect the insured not the counterparty and its at the insured's discretion on if they enact the policy or decide to deal with it themselves (unlike EL and Motor where you can bypass the insured)

born_again

If OP are suing builder, why would liability insurance pay out? As they are not involved in the claim.

Or are ins co named as joint party in the claim?

user1977

born_again said:

If OP are suing builder, why would liability insurance pay out? As they are not involved in the claim.

Because the insured would (normally) pass the claim on to their insurer, rather than fight it themselves and have to pay up / be bankrupted.

born_again

user1977 said:

born_again said:

If OP are suing builder, why would liability insurance pay out? As they are not involved in the claim.

Because the insured would (normally) pass the claim on to their insurer, rather than fight it themselves and have to pay up / be bankrupted.

Thanks, so long as it is something they would cover, but why would builder not do that 1st anyway? If they had the cover.

This by the OP
My only hope of getting my money back is if the court case goes in my favour and the public liability insurance pays out.

Is the OP thinking that this is something backed by public purse & not a insurance co that the Rouge Builder is paying for?

DullGreyGuy

born_again said:

user1977 said:

born_again said:

If OP are suing builder, why would liability insurance pay out? As they are not involved in the claim.

Because the insured would (normally) pass the claim on to their insurer, rather than fight it themselves and have to pay up / be bankrupted.

Thanks, so long as it is something they would cover, but why would builder not do that 1st anyway? If they had the cover.

This by the OP
My only hope of getting my money back is if the court case goes in my favour and the public liability insurance pays out.

Is the OP thinking that this is something backed by public purse & not a insurance co that the Rouge Builder is paying for?

Same reason when someone kerbs an alloy they don't immediately ring their Car Insurers... it counts as a claim and pushes up next years premiums. If it's a minor thing or they consider baseless they may try and deal with it themselves rather than involve their insurers.

I suspect they think that public liability insurance includes defective workmanship as their property has been "damaged" by whatever issues there has been with the work. Unfortunately its not the case and it only covers more literal damage, eg if they were swinging a lump hammer and accidentally let go and it went through a nearby kitchen unit door causing damage or hit the OP