New Build Flooded by Plumber

Spinhead

My wife’s mother bought a new build luxury apartment. £700k. She moved in on the 3rd September. In no hurry to unpack, she was staying with me and my wife for a week whilst she sorted through her belongings, got the furniture in the right place and decided where everything should go in the kitchen. 

One week later, we get a call from a neighbour saying there is water gushing out from her her front door, the flat below (still being finished and unoccupied) is flooded as is the communal hallway and entrance. 

On entry, the entire 3 bedroom 2 bathroom flat is under two inches of water. The mains pipe for the flat above heating and hot water has blown a corner joint and it’s been pouring through the ceiling for 12 hours.

plumber admits liability. Independent Insurance assessor bought in by the property developer. Report issued. Loss adjuster from the insurer coming soon. Estimate is 3 to 6 months for flat to dry out and be repaired (all floors, carpets, skirting, doors, shaker panelling and plaster walls up to 1 meter above ground level need to be replaced. 

Questions: Can we select the contractor?
can we claim for accommodation cost of staying with us? (If she were to rent like for like it would be £2,600 per month)
can she claim the cost of running industrial dehumidifiers 24 hours a day?

oldernonethewiser

Can't help much but I had a friend who had a serious leak in an old property.  The original wood panelling was soaked.  Insurance paid for the dehumifidiers running 24/7 for two months no problem.

Hope she gets everything sorted okay.

ThorOdinson

You can claim for all your costs. Electricity, rent in alternative accommodation etc.

The issue you will have is that since she is staying with family it will be hard to convince them you are charging her rent. It might actually be better to just rent somewhere else.

DullGreyGuy

Spinhead said:

My wife’s mother bought a new build luxury apartment. £700k. She moved in on the 3rd September. In no hurry to unpack, she was staying with me and my wife for a week whilst she sorted through her belongings, got the furniture in the right place and decided where everything should go in the kitchen. 

One week later, we get a call from a neighbour saying there is water gushing out from her her front door, the flat below (still being finished and unoccupied) is flooded as is the communal hallway and entrance. 

On entry, the entire 3 bedroom 2 bathroom flat is under two inches of water. The mains pipe for the flat above heating and hot water has blown a corner joint and it’s been pouring through the ceiling for 12 hours.

plumber admits liability. Independent Insurance assessor bought in by the property developer. Report issued. Loss adjuster from the insurer coming soon. Estimate is 3 to 6 months for flat to dry out and be repaired (all floors, carpets, skirting, doors, shaker panelling and plaster walls up to 1 meter above ground level need to be replaced. 

Questions: Can we select the contractor?
can we claim for accommodation cost of staying with us? (If she were to rent like for like it would be £2,600 per month)
can she claim the cost of running industrial dehumidifiers 24 hours a day?

There isn't an independent person, there will be a loss/claims adjustor or a loss/claims assessor... they are the identical people but one is instructed/paid by the insurer and the other is instructed/paid by the claimant. Ultimately insurance is a highly regulated industry and what can/can't happen is defined by a combination of the policy terms and industry best practice so its not like one is trying their best to decline the claim and the other is trying their best to get you £5m but there will be slightly different focuses depending on who instructed them. 

It would be a good idea to find out who the person is working for and, given the size of the claim, consider if its worth appointing your own representative... you'll have to pay them, you can't claim that cost, but arguably they normally can negotiate sufficiently better an outcome (and remove stress) that people think their worth while

1) You aren't claiming off of your own insurance so it's unlikely you can select the contractor however speak to the assessor and see if they'll consider them or not. There is always the option of a cash settlement instead but unless you know some very cheap contractors or willing to live with the damage it rarely works out best in large claims

2) She can claim some costs for staying with you but it won't automatically be the equivalent of renting; it will somewhat depend on if she is claiming from the Building insurance and what its terms for alternative accommodation are or if she is claiming off the plumbers insurance which would be on an indemnity basis - again speak to the assessor

3) Yes, need to take meter reads/photos before they're turned on and what they are at the end. Assuming the property remains unoccupied the whole time then the full costs can be claimed. Again speak to the assessor to ensure you agree on the opening and closing reads.