We have suffered a water leak for some time the pipework was concealed behind ground floor toilet pipe boxing and affected adjoining 2rooms.

Legal and general sent in Building Validation Solutions http://www.bv-solutions.co.uk/ to survey ?flooring in toilet had to be removed plus tiling waist height .damage pipe was made secure to facilitate use of toilet

Bvs completed their survey and came up with a value which would just cover cost of decorating,radiator removal and refit not enough for reinstatement of cloakroom toilet not even making allowance for toilet to be removed this is fixed on the remaining floor covering and needs to be removed toilet will crack as it is cemented to floor,bvs sent me text later that day giving me 14 days to accept ?,

I have started to get quotes in for works and it coming out at twice their allowance ,can anyone advice please

Firstly, don't be fazed by their threats of particular deadlines. And you should tell them so.

Write to them and tell them that you are fully aware of their obligations treat you unfairly under FCA regulations and you will not submit yourself to unilateral deadlines of 14 days or any other deadline. Tell them that you are considering your position and you are investigating the true cost of making good the damage and you will then be in contact with them.

Tell them however that you have already discovered that they are trying to fob you off with a payment substantially lower than the value of making good and that you will be obtaining your own estimates for the work and supplying them to them.

Tell them also that if they insist on trying to bully you with deadlines or what amounts to other threats, that you will begin an immediate complaint to the FOS about their behaviour.

Send the letter pretty well precisely in those terms. Don't forget that these people make money not from paying you but by not paying you or by not paying you enough. Keep control and make sure that they understand that you are not going to be a pushover.

Read up on ICOBS

moved to insurance forum

you will need to check your policy as some wont allow for the cost of removing radiator tiling etc to find the leak in the first place so make sure that your quotes are for exactly what is allowed in the policy.

Now putting the radiator back on the wall afterwards will be covered in any policy i have ever had so that shouldt be an issue but damage getting to the leak? could be something they will want to argue about

you will need to check your policy as some wont allow for the cost of removing radiator tiling etc to find the leak in the first place so make sure that your quotes are for exactly what is allowed in the policy.

 

Now putting the radiator back on the wall afterwards will be covered in any policy i have ever had so that shouldt be an issue but damage getting to the leak? could be something they will want to argue about

As long as your people have given detailed quotes then the loss adjusters will have little to say. So a vague " repair to room" from a plasterer or tiler will leave a lot of room for argument wheras replacing x sq metres of white 150m tiles, grouting and cleaning afterwards with y hours allowed for labour will leave them with nothing to point at. This is one of the rerasons insurance jobs cost more, the people get paid slower and they have more paperwork to do.

For some big jobs insurers automatically give themselves a 10% discount on the final bill even when no such negotiation has taken place that would consider that.

You dont have to let their peopelin your house but if you want to be really awkward insist that each person who is visiting your property brings along a copy of their DBS for working with children and vulnerable adults as you often leave your demented granny alone at home (or whatever). They wont have the paperwok so they wont be allowed in and no reason for insurer to complain, it is the law.

Hi thanks for response

Bvs just phoned with slighty increased offer still does not meet quotes value ,I said can't. Agree to that and will be contacting financial services for more advice as they previously said I should give them more time to consider their offer ,BVS(independent surveyor )?¿? Told me I might have to accept their contractors to repair the damage .

I have out of my funds cleared the damage and have replaced the toilet .

Any advise please

BVS are a bunch of ....

I had major hassle with them. They refused to pay part of my claim saying the leak was a pre-exising leak which apparently they'd discussed with me at the first visit (they hadn't). Then when I complained the guy phoned me and I said something like "sorry I disagree with you I'll speak to my insurer". Next day another letter/email advising me I'd agreed!

Really took the biscuit when I said no its not existing damage and they threatened me and said I'd have to make a separate claim for the ceiling so it'd be two claims on my record and two excess payments.

Always the same, no breakdown just a final total which I think was totally made up to be honest.

Every time I'd get a letter/email it'd be "so let us know and we'll make payment immediately". I guess they have success with that because people are greedy.

The whole system is rotten. Companies like BVS screw the payout down as low as they can, and, of course, then go to the insurers and say "we saved you £x".

In the end I complained officially to my insurer who cut BVS out of the loop and paid out an extra £600.

Hi all ,

used this forum  approx 10 months ago relating to water leak at home which had been behind paneling in utility room toilet  ,contacted my insurance company gave them details and supplied them with 3 quotations ,

they sent along  a company [building validation solutions;} who carried out a survey and agreed the damage had affected two adjoining rooms ,walls that had to have plater removed ,toilet removed all wall tiling and flooring because the water had seeped up the walls and under the flooring ,toilet was cemented to floor  cabinet and paneling to be removed ,and all three rooms to be decorated.BVS appointed by legal and general calculated damage to be around 1500 pounds and asked me to sign,i refused because the quotes were twice their 

offer, i was then told and ,this was repeated to me again by phone at later date, if i did not accept they would send in their own team ,I insisted   on having who i choose because i wanted a tradesmen  that had a profile i could check on .

All this was reported to the financial obudsman sept  2018,

on 28th  may 2019 they replied stating that they thought it was a correct decision  by legal and general ,

I objected and asked for another person to look at the claim .

It would appear that the financial ombudsman think it correct to pay half of your damage claim after all the assurance you get when purchasing the policy 

 .

can anyone guide me as to how i deal with this injustice.   Many thanks 

threads merged for history.

was this an adjudicator or the ombudsman themselves?

if not 

escalate it to them

Ombudsman responded and I requested an appeal which she would put forward .

In her email she quoted a higher figure than the insurance company approx £300 more ,strange as I have had no contact from LandG for nearly a year no increase mentioned