Hastings Home Renewal Rejected but they haven't started the repair on my house!?

ssshelp

Hello all, 

I'm hoping to get some help!! 2 months ago my neighbour had a house fire and it's damaged my property with it needing new roof and smoke damage to most rooms to the point we have been moved from the cheap hotel and put into a rental for a year.

The neighbouring property landlord doesn't have insurance so hastings have accepted that they will have to cover the repairs but haven't started yet and we are still getting water damage because the holes and damage to our roof and due to no roof on next door through the partitioning walls.

Hastings wont start until a roof is fitted next door so the water damage will keep coming. We have been told that it will be the start of next year that if the landlord doesn't find the money to get a roof on his property our insurance will have too step in and take him court.

So no repairs have started yet, I've now had hasting refuse to renew our home insurance thats up in September..  I'm stuck on what to do as they are fully aware water damage is still happening and will keep happening but how can they not renew our insurance when the house will get worse because they haven't even started a repair yet..   what rights do I have with this? How can they not insure the property that they are due to repair next year?? I'm baffled and shocked at how hastings can do this to me. 

BarelySentientAI

Covering you next year has nothing to do with the claim.

The claim, and everything associated with it, is dealt with by whoever was the insurer at the time of the claim, not the time of the work.

Annemos

What a horrible thing to happen ssshelp. Just to note, I am not an Insurance Expert, but had a claim myself. Here is what I would do in your place. I do hope this can help, perhaps. 


Re covering you for the next year. I am not so sure they can get away with this so easily, in your circumstances of heavy damage. 

Step 1     Please can you look at who the underlying actual insurer is on your policy. (Hastings is only an intermediary.)

Then look on here to see if that Insurer is a member of the ABI. (Association of British Insurers)

https://www.abi.org.uk/about-the-abi/abi-members/  


The problem is, I imagine with such a lot of damage and no end in sight, no other Insurer may be willing to offer you a quote.


Step 2      Please see this link below which shows the ABI Guidance to its members. It is written for flood-owners. But a homeowner who was recently declined a renewal in the middle of a Subsidence claim, has also just had success when he/ she produced this article. 

This article implies, ABI members should not be dropping people who have experienced heavy damage, when repairs still have to be done.   

(Side-note.... even if yours is not a member of the ABI, you might find the Financial Ombudsman would consider supporting you, if you have to approach Insurance Brokers, but then they cannot find any new cover for you.)


https://www.abi.org.uk/products-and-issues/topics-and-issues/flooding/recovering-from-a-flood/guidance-on-continuation-of-buildings-insurance-cover-while-a-property-is-undergoing-repairs/


Here are extracts from it:  
 

The insurance industry is committed to supporting customers who are in the process of an ongoing buildings insurance claim. In some circumstances, where a customer’s property has been significantly damaged, the repair process may take many months. Therefore, a customer may need to renew their buildings insurance cover before the repair process has been fully completed, or whilst works are ongoing.

In the event that a property still requires significant repair work from previous damage, other insurers are less likely to be willing to provide cover until the repair process is complete and the property is considered to be in a good state of repair. If the customer’s existing insurer was to not offer to renew cover during the repair process, then the customer could be left uninsured for a number of months.  This is not a good customer outcome and something which the ABI is seeking to avoid where possible.

This ABI good practice guidance sets out an approach to provide reassurance to customers that their existing insurer will use their best endeavours to offer to maintain cover until the repairs on their property are completed. All decisions on pricing, terms or conditions remain at the discretion of individual insurers.

Step 3     I don't know why Hastings is saying they can't renew (what their actual reasons are). But if necessary, you may have to try and go straight to the actual Insurer, to explain what has happened. Maybe that Insurer has other intermediaries who can offer you a new policy with that same Insurer, if Hastings is not available. 

Good luck with trying to get a renewal back from your Insurer. And also getting your life back to normal. 

Step 4    I am not sure if the Insurer can just keep delaying repairs indefinitely, in your circumstances, even if they have to go to Court to get any payment themselves.  (I have seen Tree damage cases, where a neighbour won't cut their tree down and Ombudsman says, Insurer can't use that as an indefinite excuse and so must come up with another solution and then get on with the repairs.)

You may have to do a search on Ombudsmans cases to see if you can find similar circumstances to your own. Search in the "keyword" box on things like:  "Insurer delaying repairs" etc 

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/decisions-case-studies/ombudsman-decisions

BarelySentientAI

Annemos said:

Step 4    I am not sure if the Insurer can just keep delaying repairs indefinitely, in your circumstances, even if they have to go to Court to get any payment themselves.  (I have seen Tree damage cases, where a neighbour won't cut their tree down and Ombudsman says, Insurer can't use that as an indefinite excuse and so must come up with another solution and then get on with the repairs.)

You may have to do a search on Ombudsmans cases to see if you can find similar circumstances to your own. Search in the "keyword" box on things like:  "Insurer delaying repairs" etc 

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/decisions-case-studies/ombudsman-decisions

Yes, this is a good point - and correct.  They can't just keep waiting forever.  At some point they should sort it all out and, if that's cost them more, they will chase the neighbour through court for the extra if they think they can get it back.

Bear in mind though, that 2 months after a house fire is not a long time.  And they are right that they wouldn't want to start repairing your house whilst there is no roof next door, because why would you repair something only for it to immediately get damaged again and need a second repair?  9 - 12 months is a timeline that I often come across for being in alternative accommodation following a fire claim.

Annemos

Yes one of the houses round here had a big house fire. (That hot day in July 2022? when all those houses next to the fields also had fires.)

It took a year before the roof was started on that house. And the house was only completed in about December 2023.

We also had an arsonist behind us who hit 2 bungalows in December 2017. They were all fixed after a year. (New roof for both of them and internal works on one of them.) 

dunstonh

 I'm baffled and shocked at how hastings can do this to me. 

Nothing to worry about at all in respect of the renewal.  You are covered in the year it happened.   It doesn't matter what insurer you are with in the year ahead.      This happens a lot.  Indeed, some people voluntarily shop around even with a claim outstanding.  All quite normal.  This is not something you need to worry about (you have enough other things for that!)

DullGreyGuy

dunstonh said:

 I'm baffled and shocked at how hastings can do this to me. 

Nothing to worry about at all in respect of the renewal.  You are covered in the year it happened.   It doesn't matter what insurer you are with in the year ahead.      This happens a lot.  Indeed, some people voluntarily shop around even with a claim outstanding.  All quite normal.  This is not something you need to worry about (you have enough other things for that!)

Certainly no issue with the claim however with significant damage it will be difficult to buy an alternative policy given you cannot agree to the question/assumption that the house is in a good state of repair and potentially not to the question on if major/structural works are underway. 

sheramber

dunstonh said:

 I'm baffled and shocked at how hastings can do this to me. 

Nothing to worry about at all in respect of the renewal.  You are covered in the year it happened.   It doesn't matter what insurer you are with in the year ahead.      This happens a lot.  Indeed, some people voluntarily shop around even with a claim outstanding.  All quite normal.  This is not something you need to worry about (you have enough other things for that!)

  You are covered in the year it happened. 

So damage from lack of a repair after Hastings pollicy is ended wil be covered by Hastings or a new company?

BarelySentientAI

sheramber said:

dunstonh said:

 I'm baffled and shocked at how hastings can do this to me. 

Nothing to worry about at all in respect of the renewal.  You are covered in the year it happened.   It doesn't matter what insurer you are with in the year ahead.      This happens a lot.  Indeed, some people voluntarily shop around even with a claim outstanding.  All quite normal.  This is not something you need to worry about (you have enough other things for that!)

  You are covered in the year it happened. 

So damage from lack of a repair after Hastings pollicy is ended wil be covered by Hastings or a new company?

by Hastings.

The insured peril occurred 'on their watch'.  Everything following is theirs.  Consequential damage is still part of the same incident.

If there was a different incident - like someone crashed a car through the wall - then that would be a new event and damage from that would be the new insurer's to sort out.  Perhaps with some arguments between insurers if damage overlapped.

DullGreyGuy

sheramber said:

dunstonh said:

 I'm baffled and shocked at how hastings can do this to me. 

Nothing to worry about at all in respect of the renewal.  You are covered in the year it happened.   It doesn't matter what insurer you are with in the year ahead.      This happens a lot.  Indeed, some people voluntarily shop around even with a claim outstanding.  All quite normal.  This is not something you need to worry about (you have enough other things for that!)

  You are covered in the year it happened. 

So damage from lack of a repair after Hastings pollicy is ended wil be covered by Hastings or a new company?

Insurance can be written on two basis (reinsurance has a third basis). All UK Consumer and most Commercial insurance is written on the basis that if the event that causes the loss happens during the period of insurance then it is the policy that will cover it. A small amount of commercial insurance, namely Professional Indemnity, is written on the basis that when the claim is discovered the insurance that is in force on that date is the one that covers it. 

Claims Made insurance has an immediate and significant issue that once your policy ends you no longer have cover so if Car insurance was written on that basis, you sold the car so cancelled the insurance and 2 years later someone accuses you of hitting their car in a carpark you'd have no cover for that claim. 

On both basis once a claim is made then that policy continues to cover all the future losses associated with that event. Again were that not the case you'd end up with bad outcomes... in the most serious of injury cases where someone will never be able to work again they receive a periodic payment order where the at fault insurer has to make annual payments to them for loss of earnings for the rest of their life. So if claims stopped when the policy stopped every future insurer you bought from would be taking on paying someone £20k plus a year so clearly your premiums would be over £20k. 

Because PPOs have to be linked to salary indexes insurers cannot just go out and buy an annuity to cut off their liabilities but thats another technical discussion for another day