Contaminated land

AmberBee · 16 April 2019 at 11:22PM

Bought our house 20 years ago. It's still mortgaged. Had to remortgage about 5 years ago with the same Mortgage Company. Have buildings insurance with same Mortgage company. About ten years ago about ten houses around me including mine were designated as contaminated land. Long story and don't want to go into too much detail. I have never advised informed my mortgage company and still have same buildings insurance. The house is going to be difficult to sell - who would buy a house on contaminated land? So it's value will be reduced. Maybe by 30-50% I just don't know. I've stayed with the same mortgage and ins company to keep things simple. But wonder if I have any kind of basis of a claim against my insurance? Any thoughts please? Thank you.

paddyandstumpy · 17 April 2019 at 5:09AM

Diminution of value is normally excluded. The only people who can tell you for definite are you, by reading your policy wording, or ask your insurer.

Aretnap · 17 April 2019 at 6:36AM

Has it become contaminated as a result of an event that took place while you were insured? If so you might have a claim, depending on the event and the terms of your policy. Or was it already contaminated when you bought the property and you just didn't know it at the time? If so it's unlikely to be covered. Home insurance generally covers unexpected events which cause damage to your property - not the fact that your property was defective in the first place.

Contaminated land

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