Help Please! House flooded -Insurance void?

[bigal9ball]

Just had a phonecall from financial ombudsman saying that Lloyds Tsb Insurance have agreed with their decision that my policy was Mis-sold to me in the first place and have agreed to look at my claim as a fresh claim subject to their terms and conditions? and have agreed to pay 8% interest if claim is settled? they have also agreed to waive my premiums which were returned to me in full (£256) on cancellation of my policy in 2010 as a gesture of goodwill for suffering caused? and the Ombudsman have sent me a settlement form to sign and return to agree to this settlement?

My question is does it sound fair and what is my next move?

Ive never done anything like this before so want to get it as right as i can? Thanks

[honeybee13]

Hello again. Well, that sounds like a step in the right direction, thank you for letting us know.

 

Hopefully someone in the know will be along soon.

 

My best, HB

[unclebulgaria67]

Sounds like Lloyds TSB Insurers will be dealing with the claim, as if you were covered by the policy. i.e as if you were normally resident. They will look at the claim in regard to normal t&c's. So if you were owner/occupier and there was no issue regarding the claim event, they will pay out on the normal basis. In addition, they will add to 8% to the settlement value and have waived the premiums.

 

Sounds pretty good to me. As long as the property was not unoccupied for more than the number of days stated in the policy, at the time that the water damage occurred. Most policies will exclude water damage claims from leaks, after 30 or 60 days of consecutive unoccupancy. Unoccupancy, means no one was living in the house i.e sleeping there, for 30 consecutive days before the leak occurred. Be careful what you say, if you are visited by a new assessor employed by Lloyds TSB Insurers. They could ask about how the house was equipped to support someone living there within the 30 days before the damage occurred. i.e were there beds, cooking equipment etc. If there were no beds, it would suggest that it was unoccupied throughout the whole period and the claim would not have been admissible anyway. If you have any recordings or transcripts of your phone call when you made the claim, see what you said at the time. You don't want to contradict anything you said at the time, by saying the opposite. This happened nearly 2 years ago, so you may not remember, so give information that you believe to be true, based on your memory, if you are unsure.

Edited May 25, 2012 by unclebulgaria67

[bigal9ball]

Thanks Unclebulgaria-I dont have any recording of the phone calls that took place at the time of my original claim so it will all have to be from memory?

I remember saying that the house WAS unnocupied but for not longer than 2 or 3 weeks and that i was returning to the house maybe twice a week to check on things as it was up for sale at the time.

The house was rented out as a furnished property so most things were still in place when the tenants left- i.e.beds/3 piece suite/washer/cooker/tumble dryer and numerous pieces of furniture such as coffee table/bureau/computer table.

Am i claiming for the damage to all this property? The laminate flooring was destroyed as were the kitchen vinyl floor and the stairs and bedroom carpets-My kitchen cupboards had collapsed too? is this all re-claimable?

I do have photographic evidence of most of this damage on my mobile phone and also on my facebook page from the time of the event-will this help?

Thanks

[bigal9ball]

Also my block paved driveway had collapsed from the pressure from the flood? got photos

[unclebulgaria67]

If you only had Buildings Insurance, you can only claim for what is defined as buildings. This will be the building itself and anything which is attached to it. So the kitchen and bathroom furniture would be included. The block paved driveway, will need proof of being affected by the burst pipe incident. Stuck down vinyl floor ok, carpets will be considered Contents so not covered.

 

Just follow the claims process and be as helpful as you can. The assessor may ask to see something to confirm when the last tenants left. If this is more than 30 days before the incident, then you may have to explain about whether you lived there for a number of days, so the house was never unoccupied for more than 30 consecutive days. Provide the photos that you had and anything else that is helpful.

[bigal9ball]

I"m really dubious about signing this settlement form allowing Lloyds to waive my returned premiums and settle my claim as a fresh claim as i think it is another easy cop out on Lloyds part and a cheaper way of fobbing me off? I havent fought this for two & a half years to be brushed aside easily-I"m now thinking i may have 2 cases? One for the voided insurance policy and one against the bank for mis-selling me the policy in the first place? and the big bug bear ive got is with the money i lost on the sale of my house (valued at 109,950 sold as seen after flood at £78,500) which i feel that Lloyds are to blame for as i couldnt afford the repairs on the house after the flood and if they had settled my claim at the time as they are offering to do now then i could have had the repairs done and sold the house nearer the valuation price?

Really am un-decided as to how to play this?

Rang the lady who"s dealing with my case at the ombudsman but she"s on holiday until 11th June?

[unclebulgaria67]

Well don't hurry and make a mistake. Perhaps see if you can get some free legal advice. Sometimes solicitors volunteer their time at citizens advice.

 

You could always go back to the FOS, with details of what you are willing to accept. The difference between the valuation for the house and the price as sold i.e £31450 + 8% interest for the period from the date of sale until now. There is no way for the LTSB to inspect the house, as it was sold. It is only adding to their claim costs to muck around. They might as well settle on the basis that makes sense, in view of the miss-selling of the policy.

[Surfer01]

When the house was sold, wouldn't a surveyor have inspected it at the time of sale?

[Mwynci]

Assess what you want out of this first formulate a plan and work it from there. If you want financials from your second complaint, whay are you claiming for? inconveneince, stress? It can't be the offer to deal with a claim, that's already there.

Take your time, the insurer may capp any interest payments if you don;t go back for another 6 months, but a couple of weeks won't hurt.

[bigal9ball]

thanks for the advice-As for the surveyor Surfer i believe the buyer just fetched a builder with her to assess the damage and give her a price for repairs then she put an offer in

[Surfer01]

I may be wrong but it is the mortgage company that requires an inspection with the surveyor. If they bought cash, then they would have been very foolish to spend that amount with out a survey being done. I suppose you can only ask and see what they say.

[bigal9ball]

Right-Claims man from Lloyds Insurance had a meeting with me today and asked me to go over all the damage that was caused by the water leak in 2010-Every time i mentioned the money lost on the sale of my house due to no repairs taking place he sort of dodged this question and kept explaining to me that he was looking at the claim as if it was from day one and as if the claim had been valid and he had called to see me straight after the flood?

He told me what i could and couldnt claim for as regards buildings insurance and that he would go away and work out what he thought the settlement should be and he would be in touch in the next 14 days?

The things we agreed on are as follows;

block paved driveway

kitchen cupboards (All inc Hob & Cooker)

laminate flooring (even though he stated it wasnt included but he would let me claim for it)

cost of re-plastering 2 rooms

hire of de-humidifier

electrics (cost of re-wiring downstairs)

2 internal doors

artex ceiling in kitchen

lightings & fittings in kitchen

Personally i"d got a bigger list than he had because mine had on it all the above including;

loss of sale price

kitchen vinyl floor

bathroom cushion floor

cost of burst pipe repaired

decorating

skip hire

damage to central heating

STRESS

4 months mortgage i had to pay as house was un-rentable?

 

I think i"ll wait and see what figure he comes back with and take it from there?

I still think ive got a case against the bank for mis-selling me this policy in the first place and maybe i should chase them for some sort of compensation too?

Any Thoughts Please Thanks

[unclebulgaria67]

Think they are trying to get away with a lower settlement than your losses. But we shall see.

 

What about loss of rent, as the policy was sold on the basis of it being let, which turned out to be an error by LTSB.

 

With the Kitchen, often the FOS will also allow a 50% contribution towards undamaged units. So if they try to get away, with paying you for half a kitchen, query this.

 

Personally I think they are messing around and should settle for at least the £31450 + 8% interest.

 

If at any time you believe that LTSB Insurers are acting in an unfair way, ask the FOS ombudsman who reviewed your case, to see if they can help.