home insurance company won't pay - do I have grounds to fight it ?

firrybabe

Bit of a long post, am hoping someone can help.

Last month, I received a telephone call from one of my then tenants stating that the roof on the lean-to of the property had caved in. She put it down to the heavy rainfall, hailstones and strong winds that had occurred in the area.

I duly rang my insurance company and made a claim explaining the situation. After a few mishaps, the surveyor eventually visited the property. I was subsequently informed that my insurance company would not be paying, as the roof had been incorrectly constructed and they used the wording,

" The damage appears to be as a result of faulty workmanship for which the policy booklet states that we will exclude 'any defect damage or failure caused by faulty workmanship including any attempt to repair of modify which does not compy with recognised industry standards."
They also stated they were unable to pay as they were unable to confirm an insured peril occurs.

The lean-to had its new roof installed in 2005 by a local builder. Obviously the insurance company are saying the work he did was faulty. The first I was aware that there was any problem with the construction was when the damage occurred last month. I'm not a builder and when I assessed his original work it all appeared to be fine, and when I took out my insurance policy I was in no way aware that there were any underlying problems.

Either way I'm facing repair bills, my house has not be rentable as the water damage affected electrics etc, so all in all it has not been very good.

I contacted the builder who did the work in 2005 and explained the situtation he offered to go and fix the roof, however I explained I could not allow him to touch the roof as according to my insurance company's surveyor he was not competent; and I did not want to be potentially uninsured. I asked if he would meet the repair costs, he agreed that he would and I asked him to confirm in writing. I've written to him twice, but am still awaiting a response. I sent him copies of the surveyor's report as proof.

So do I have any grounds to tackle my insurance company ? Or should I just accept their decision. Is arbitration the next step with the builder ? I don't want to have to go to court, but I do feel that his work should have lasted longer than 3 years.

jonesMUFCforever

If he has offered to repair the work (at his expense?) I would let him do so with a proviso that you will be asking your insurance company to come back after to check the work (or pay to get someone to certify this) in case of future problems.
Presumably the builder has public liability insurance - do you have legal advice cover either with your home or car insurance? If so now is the time to use it to claim for anything not covered by your own insurance policy.

mattymoo

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

Presumably the builder has public liability insurance - do you have legal advice cover either with your home or car insurance?

The builders Public liability insurance will not cover this. It is not there to guarantee his workmanship. It is there to cover him if he causes damage or injury while working on site.

The cover that would pick this up is professional indemnity but I doubt a builder will have such cover.

Nothing wrong with using your legal expenses claim people to pursue the claim. Suspect you would need to give the builder the option to do the work. Would suggest you use a structural surveyor to prepare a work schedule and spec that he has to adhere to. The surveyor can then inspect and sign off on the work once completed.

Maximumtime

Firstly I would ask is your insurance company surveyor a real surveyor?? Is he qualified to make a decision concerning whether your lean to roof was properly constructed. Is he an engineer/qunatity surveyor? You find alot of these Loss Adjusters are from a finance/business background.

Secondly, your builder has offerd to do the work to compensate you. Not that I would wnat someone doing work for me that has caused damage but if you can afford it or have a suitably qualified friend ask him/her to pop round and give you a professional unbiased opinion. Least that way you will know whether the builder was at fault.

If you are going to do this think is it worth it to get an independent engineer to give you advice and an impartail report. Its a win win cos he will either find the builder at fault or state openly that the heavy rain etc caused it so back to the insurers.

What I would do is check your policy of insurance. Make sure your have Storm coverage. Secondly, and sometimes more importantly did the insurer know the property was rented out? if they didnt I can see them declining any claim for not telling them aka non disclosure of a material fact.

I would be interested to know what happens.

Best of luck.

:T

firrybabe

Thanks so much for all the advice.

I spoke with my insurance company legal advice team and they gave me some good advice.

My insurance company did know the property was let. I've scrutinised my policy document, and it states they don't pay for poor workmanship.

I did actually have an independent surveyor inspect my property and prepare a report and his conclusion was the work was exceedingly poor, not to building regs, basically some of the worst work he'd ever seen. An accident waiting to happen. I figured it was a good idea to have a second opinion to see if he agreed with the insurance company person.

So I've got a good idea on how to proceed, and hopefully the situation will get resolved.