I changed buildings insurer while I had an ongoing subsidence claim - what to do?

judithsdaughter85

Hi there, I have had an ongoing subsidence claim for 4 years now - it was initially not deemed to be serious/moving on an ongoing basis so it the cracks were patched up and then redecorated over. 3 months later, the main internal crack came back and since then I have been going back and forth with the underwriter about a more permanent solution. After monitoring for another year, they are now considering a quote from their subcontractor for underpinning.

Last year, after getting my insurance renewal quote - which was double what I had paid the year before - I changed insurer. I now realise that was the wrong thing to do! I know I am not insured for subsidence under my new insurer as I was unable to send them the documents demonstrating the issue had been rectified (because it hasn't yet!) I assumed at the time that since I had an ongoing claim with my old insurer that I'm waiting to be fixed, I didn't need new subsidence insurance. I am now in the position of having to renew again and I've had a quote that is double again what I paid last year. I'm not going to change again this time, but I am now really worried that even the ongoing claim is not covered by my old insurer. I spoke to the underwriter today for an update and they said 'after our technical team reviews the quote we will speak to your insurer to get it approved'. Is there any way my old insurer will approve this given I have now not had a policy with them for over a year? The claim is still concerning an issue that occurred when I had my old policy but I am freaking out that I might now be liable for any rectification as well as, possibly, the costs that the underwriter has incurred over the last year+ of monitoring.

Any advice very much appreciated! Thanks.

Mark_d

Keep your fingers crossed and hope for the best.

DullGreyGuy

Insurance like Home and Motor are written on a "losses occurring during" basis and as such the insurer that was in force when the incident that causes the loss occurred is always the insurer that deals with the claim even if that policy has lapsed and your insured elsewhere now. 

The alternative is a "claims made" policy but in the UK they are limited to certain professional insurances.

So the only way the insurer could get out of the claim would be to prove that the issues you are experiencing now are unrelated to the previously experienced problem and a new cause that occurred after the policy ended. 

If you had a massive house and the south east corner had subsidence identified as being caused by tree roots in 2020 and now you had subsidence in the north west corner 100m away shown to be caused by a sewer that collapsed last month then they could argue its a different issue so not covered by them. 

Assuming its the same place and given no rectification work was done for the underlying problem they may find it difficult to argue its not the same problem. 

Annemos

Let's hope they are now coming close to making a decision.

They cannot keep you hanging on forever. And their delay could now be causing you additional Insurance Problems until your home is repaired. (The Ombudsman might take a dim view of this, if the delays continue.) 


Here is some background information to hopefully reassure you on what DGG has just said. It is an Ombudsman case that discusses some issues he described. 

Every set of circumstances is different and so each case only applies to that homeowner. But you can see in this case how the FOS tackles these issues.

One also gets to learn the Correct Insurance Terminology. 

One of the most important lines in this case is this:    "As an insurer, it has a duty to cover a lasting and effective repair to the property."    This applies to all Insurers when they handle a Subsidence Claim that has been accepted by them. 

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/decision/DRN-3391236.pdf  




If you ever need to complain, then you can research topics on  here:  do a search on the relevant words.

It is time-consuming, but it is invaluable: 

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

judithsdaughter85

Thanks - that is very reassuring!