Halifax decline home insurance claim

[dr fox]

We moved into our property a year ago and a couple of months back there was driving rain on a particular day. When we got in from work our lounge had water lying on it. Water was dripping from the dowlights and the curtains were soaking wet. We dried up all the mess but over the next couple of days our wooden floor began to swell and heave.

We got a builder out who repaired the damage which was on the outside of the building. (which we hadnt noticed until the heavy rain)
There were two bits of damage, one on the wall above the window and the beading around the external window (he repaired both to be on the safe side)

We put a claim into Halifax and they told us to get a quote so we did and it came in just over £3000 plus vat. Halifax said due to the amount they would send one of their contractors. The surveyor came out and then halifax said that they would send out a PCC. On the day of the visit there were two PCC's which i thought was strange but they done their stuff and that was that.

A week later they phoned to say the claim was declined as they could not see any damage on the external of the building. (It had been repaired at this point but if they had looked closely enough then they would have seen it).

We sent a letter concerning the decline of the claim and a reply came back saying that they stood by their decision as it was their opinion that water had been coming into our property over a period of time.

We have Buildings & Contents & accidental contents cover.

We paid for the outside to be repaired but thought the insurance would cover at least the floor and ceiling.

Your views?

[Mossycat]

I can understand why you acted in haste and got the outside repaired asap, get a statement from the builder who repaired your property stating what work he did and why he did it (get him to confirm that this was allowing ingress of water to your property). Take photos that clearly show this work.

Send that to the Halifax with a strongly worded letter of complaint, stating you have buildings and contents cover, you carried the work out quickly to stop further damage occuring and you now insist they deal with the claim or you will go to the Ombudsman.

Refute their claim that water had been coming in for a long period of time and tell them that if that had been the case you would have dealt with it as soon as it was discovered (as you did in this case). Explain that it is possible that water can enter a building and not be detected until such time that it does become obvious (ie in driving rain), if you have a copy of the surveyors report on your recently acquired property and that doesn't mention anything untoward then send them a copy as proof that your property was sound when you moved in.

If they still refuse to deal with it ask them to state their reasons in full and in writing and post back here for further advice.

Mossy

[Wulfyn]

Check to see if your policy includes some sort of Home Emergency Cover. This covers the cost of emergency repairs up to a certain amount that are designed to be either (a) temporary fixes or (b) permanent fixes where a permanent fix costs the same or less as a temporary fix.

As the damage was allowing an ingress of water you can claim that you got the repairs made asap in order to stop further damage (and a greater claim on your insurance). This should also help support your claim.


This is a typical insurer catch-22 situation. If you had not made the repairs then they may have offered a lower amount claiming that you were liable for damage caused after you were aware of the problem but made no effort to fix it.