Compensation for Sewage flood damage

confuddledcat

Hello,

Our home was flooded with sewage in January this year. The whole ground floor was condemned with all of our possessions disposed of, and we have been in temporary accommodation since. 

The water company has accepted responsibility for the damage and after a dismissed first offer of a very low amount, has offered us £4,000 in refunded charges and compensation.

We don't know if this is a fair amount or not and would appreciate some opinions. We have incurred costs of around £1500 so far and have lost a number of cherished possessions. We are still not back in our property.

Would you accept this figure?

MeteredOut

I'd be splitting the amount into what is costs and what is compensation.

So what was the total value of the possessions you lost and have had to/will have to replace. Is that the £1500, so it is £2,500 compensation, or do you still expect more costs to get you back into the position you were in before the flood?

Then I'd decide if the compensation component was enough to cover the hassle etc. Only you can put a value on losing cherished possessions, even if they are replaced by an alternative.

Grumpy_chap

confuddledcat said:

Hello,

Our home was flooded with sewage in January this year. The whole ground floor was condemned with all of our possessions disposed of, and we have been in temporary accommodation since. 

The water company has accepted responsibility for the damage and after a dismissed first offer of a very low amount, has offered us £4,000 in refunded charges and compensation.

We don't know if this is a fair amount or not and would appreciate some opinions. We have incurred costs of around £1500 so far and have lost a number of cherished possessions. We are still not back in our property.

Would you accept this figure?

Have you claimed on your home insurance?
The insurer will then recover what is recoverable from the sewage undertaker.

What was the root cause of the sewage flooding?

ic

I agree, sounds like this is something your home insurance should be dealing with.  They should have the legal muscle to recover costs where possible.

WIAWSNB

Thirded. That is surely the correct process.
Why are you incurring costs?

mr_stripey

To avoid repeating the same comment - what if the OP does not have insurance to cover this event?

WIAWSNB

mr_stripey said:

To avoid repeating the same comment - what if the OP does not have insurance to cover this event?

Then he is in deep whatsit.
He should make it clear to us why he isn't going through the normal process.
If he doesn't have insurance - and I cannot see any policy excluding such an event (unless he only has buildings and not contents?) - then it's up to him to sort this. 
No idea what the process would be, but I suspect it'll require employing a loss assessor, and then threatening to sue the WB if the figure comes out as more than the £4k they've been offered.
Rereading the OP's OP, it appears the WB has accepted liability, and have made an offer, which I presume is for 'personal' losses and contents, and not the damage to the building's fabric? And the OP is asking us if it's enough? 
My answer has to be, I don't know. I cannot possibly know.

Section62

WIAWSNB said:

mr_stripey said:

To avoid repeating the same comment - what if the OP does not have insurance to cover this event?

Then he is in deep whatsit.
He should make it clear to us why he isn't going through the normal process.
If he doesn't have insurance - and I cannot see any policy excluding such an event (unless he only has buildings and not contents?) - then it's up to him to sort this. 
No idea what the process would be, but I suspect it'll require employing a loss assessor, and then threatening to sue the WB if the figure comes out as more than the £4k they've been offered.
Rereading the OP's OP, it appears the WB has accepted liability, and have made an offer, which I presume is for 'personal' losses and contents, and not the damage to the building's fabric? And the OP is asking us if it's enough? 
My answer has to be, I don't know. I cannot possibly know.

Fortunately not.

As a statutory and regulated service there are requirements on sewerage undertakers to have policies and procedures in place to deal with flooding from sewers -

https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/gud_pro_sewerfloodassis.pdf

Typically the company takes the lead as they have more extensive experience dealing with foul flooding than anyone else.  The company should advise the customer to contact their insurer, but if the company is at fault then they will likely end up reimbursing the insurer for their costs.  They can of course negotiate a compensation figure with the flooding victim without having to go via insurance.

This liability is why the much-hated overflows discharging to rivers were originally installed - if it is choice between flooding someone's home with brown smelly stuff, or killing a few hundred fish and having the EA on their backs, the latter was usually the preferred option.

It is also why people building over sewers and manholes without a buildover agreement are taking a big risk.  The sewerage undertaker has little option but to pay out if the flooding comes from their sewer, but if they can pin the blame on you for making the sewer inaccessible and causing the flooding/making it worse, then they or their insurers might look to recover their costs from you.