Home insurance nightmare

HouseHorrors

Hi. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated 
so we bought a house in July 2023. We had a level 3 RICS survey done before moving in and it showed no issues. The house was only built in 1992 so fairly new. 

In December after a few small cracks appeared we put in a claim in the insurance. I also called a few builders to come have a look who said they were just plaster cracks. No issue. 

So I rang the insurance and said can we retract the claim. They said it would be classed as a notification of a claim, shouldn’t cause any issue with our renewal premium and we could reopen another claim if we were worried. 

Now, we are at renewal they are refusing to renew, we can’t get insurance elsewhere because it needs investigation and a structural engineer. 

We were not told any of this by our insurer and if we open another claim we wil have two claims and it will be impossible to get insurance in the future. 

We have been lied to by our insurer, mislead to believe a notification of a claim wasn’t an issue and now we are in a lot of trouble because of this. 

I would not recommend policy expert to anyone. They really don’t care about their customers 

DullGreyGuy

It would be a case of reopening the original claim not registering a new claim.

I dont understand what is preventing you getting quotes elsewhere? What question is tripping you up?

HouseHorrors

Because we have to declare a claim but there is no certificate to prove it’s not subsidence so they aren’t willing to cover subsidence. 

The current insurer are saying that they can’t open the claim back up because I closed it 

Annemos

Good morning HH. I am sorry you are having problems. 

Please see this case.   https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/decision/DRN-3074348.pdf


If they have done this and the big CUE database is correctly showing Notification Only. Then what they have reported would seem to be in line with the FOS .

EDIT..... but they did not spend or do anything in your own case? Don't know if that makes any difference

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I leave it to DullGreyGuy to see if he thinks what I am now going to say is the correct way to proceed....

My impression is that you now need to get your own Structural Engineer in. Have them do a complete review. 


If they say it is likely Subsidence, show the report to the Insurance Company and ask if they will re-open the old Claim. (I feel they will only do that if you now have your own evidence.)

If they won't, maybe you will have to go to the FOS? Research some cases on the FOS to see if you can find anything similar to your facts. 


If the Structural Engineer says it is NOT Subsidence, then I think you will have to go to a Broker or look on-line for companies that provide policies when there have been any issues like this. You can provide them your Structural Engineer's report and that should enable them to source you a policy. 

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HouseHorrors

Thank you for your input. I have structural engineer coming to have a look today and I have a call from the complaints department later. The insurance company have so far incurred absolutely zero cost due to the claim. So once this is all sorted I will likely have to take it to the FOS to try and get them to have a look into it.  It’s crazy how much one little online form can ruin everything ! 

Annemos

Yes. With Subsidence issues, we only find out the rules once we are in it. 


I hope you can get the firm Engineer Report/confirmation BEFORE your old policy ceases.  

If it says Subsidence and they refuse to re-open the old claim, then as an emergency, you can then possibly put in a second claim if necessary before the Policy End Date. I think they would have to continue cover then?  (You are not allowed to be dropped from Insurance if a Subsidence Claim is underway.)

(I am not sure if they would try.... "he is opening up a frivolous claim, because we were not going  to renew".. but I think the FOS would say that was not fair, if you do have a Structural Survey now showing Subsidence is there.)


After that you could then ask them if they will close the first one down again as they had not done anything yet and it is for the same problem as this new claim. (FOS if they won't maybe? But I think Notification Only claims are not treated as actual claims when Insurers look at the database. It will be the new one that counts. )

Annemos

Just to add.... when you speak to the Complaints Department.... I would perhaps try not to zoom in too much on the classification of the first claim (and whether it should be removed). 

What you are now interested in, is IF your new Structural Survey does indicate Subsidence, will they now open up a claim for you on your old policy?  If they say Yes, then that should imply they will also continue cover.

If they say NO.... that will be a problem! Would be FOS then I feel. 

Annemos

This one is also interesting for you. 

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/decision/DRN3434239.pdf

1981phoenix

Hi, I have set up a consumer group on Facebook for people going through nightmare home insurance claims. Its called Claim Guardians UK. Please feel free to come and join. Lots of practical advice and guidance, as well as emotional support, when dealing with these cowboys.