Building Insurance claim

magicgirl1 · 4 October 2019 at 9:21PM

I live in a flat and am the leaseholder. Last weekend rainwater started coming through a section of my bedroom wall by the window. I made the property management aware straight away and they did request a contractor. Who came on Tuesday. The workman told me that the gutter was severely blocked and hence rainwater overflowed and ran down the wall. This was the cause as it has rained since he unlocked it and no further problem.

My wall is drying out however the section looks like it will need painting as the watermarks run from ceiling to floor. I also purchased a dehumidifier as mould started to form.

I requested claim forms from the building insurance and found out today that I would be liable to pay a £450 excess! The likelihood is that the cost of painting and dehumidifier will be less than this. I feel really that this is unfair as I am not at fault for this and i also pay a service charge for things like maintenance of the gutters. However I don't know what my other options are?

Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks

Chickenlips · 4 October 2019 at 10:53PM

If you want to claim, you have to pay it. Some policies say it is the first part of the claim and you must pay it.

Insurance is designed to cover you for unforeseen issues thags are typically not your fault.

Check the wording and the formal cause of ingress. We normally look at the water ingress as accidental damage, but cheaper policies specifically exclude accidental damage caused by rain ingress.

eddddy · 5 October 2019 at 12:12AM

magicgirl1 wrote: »

I feel really that this is unfair as I am not at fault for this and i also pay a service charge for things like maintenance of the gutters.

If you want the management company / freeholder to pay, you'd have to show that the damage was a result of their breach of the lease and/or because they were negligent.

So, for example, that might involve building a case to show that your management co didn't inspect / clear the gutters at reasonable intervals.

(But I guess the management co might argue that it's reasonable to only inspect / clear gutters when somebody complains they're overflowing.)

Building Insurance claim

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