Will this claim be allowed?

[suzieb54]

This is a bit of an unusual insurance contents claim and quite embarrassing for me. I will be as brief as possible even though it is quite a complicated story. I had a lot of jewellery items stolen but it wasn't a burglary as the thief was actually inside my house and broke out rather than in.

 

My son who does not live with me because of his lifestyle choices came to my home a few weeks ago begging for a bed as he was homeless. It was raining and he was drenched and threatening suicide if I didn't let him in. I weakened and allowed him to sleep on the sofa for a couple of nights. He was never left alone in the house but one morning when I asked him to leave he became abusive and attacked me. I was terrified because I had cancer last year and underwent a serious operation not long ago and was really afraid I would be seriously hurt. I ran out of the house and locked the door behind me to contain him whilst I phoned the police from the patio. Just before they arrived 20 minutes later, he escaped through the bedroom window.

 

I was very shaken and upset and fearful of him returning so I went to stay with my brother for the weekend. When I returned home I discovered that whilst I was outside phoning the police he had stolen all my jewellery and some other items. I called the police who came out and took a statement and a list of missing items. I was very upset as he had not only taken my things but also some stuff my late mother left to me which as well as being valuable was priceless due to the great sentimental value.

 

To cut a long story short he gave himself up and has been to court. He is now serving a custodial sentence and I have also taken out a restraining order so that he cannot come near me again for the foreseeable future.

 

I made a claim with my insurance company Privilege (Platinum) and because I now can't find receipts for anything as most of the jewellery is over 20 years old I asked the shop where quite a few of the items were purchased to do me an estimate for the missing pieces. It came to just under £10,000 so loss adjusters UK Assistance have been appointed to 'help' with the claim and are coming out to visit next week. I have been informed that they will look at the security of the property and I understand that if my home isn't classed as secure then the claim could be disallowed. As the house wasn't broken into would this still apply? I am getting really stressed out and stress is the last thing I need.

 

I am wondering if there is any point in me searching high and low for photo's which show me wearing the jewellery (not that the photo's will be clear enough to identify the pieces) and other evidence that confirm ownership of the items stolen. I would have thought that the very fact he had pleaded guilty to the thefts would have been sufficient proof. I am still feeling very distressed about all this and I don't want to put myself out if they are going to say that because it was my son who stole the items I don't have a claim.

 

Advice please

[unclebulgaria67]

I think you are fortunate that you have an RBS Insurance company handling the claim. They are normally pretty fair and will seek to help as far as they can.

 

In regard to security, if your policy had a requirement for specfic locks, then yes it is relevant to the claim. Although it was not a break-in as such, the policy would have been provided on the basis of you having adequate security. If you had £10k worth of jewellery, depending on the other valuables in the home, I would have been surprised if there was not a minimum security requirement.

 

The security required would be either 5 lever mortice deadlocks or multi-point locking (UPVC) to exit doors and key operated locks to accessible windows.

 

In these situations, just be as helpful as you can and hopefully they will settle the claim, as best as they can within the terms of your policy. At this point I don't see the merit in debating whether your son being family and having been given access to the home, is relevant to declining the claim. Insurers should look at each claim based on its own merits. I would hope that they would look at what happened and be flexible in their approach. Someone I know who had a son with a drug habit, did a very similar thing and they claimed on their Insurance, but that was many years ago.

[raydetinu]

Also they normally require anything over the value of say £500 to be specifically listed and noted, in particular jewelry.

Also worth photographing all valuble items with descriptions.

Other than that they would be relying on your word only that they existed at all.

Also it was not a burglary as their was no break in!

I would examine your policy carefully.

[suzieb54]

I do have 5 lever locks on the only door which opens although the door itself is not in a very good condition. The front door is stuck shut and there is no key for it. I have locks on the windows except for one which I was going to have replaced before I became ill. I received a letter just after I made the claim which informed me that when the policy was due for renewal next year I would be required to have the approved locks before the renewal could take place. Does this then mean that I'm ok until renewal time? I'm sure there was something in the small print about family members so I just hope they will see that I had no alternative other than to leave him in the property albeit briefly. I think drugs must be involved in this case, I can't think of any other reason for his behaviour. Thanks for your input.

[suzieb54]

To be honest I had no idea that my jewellery would be worth so much. It has come as quite a surprise. I only knew the rough cost of the items when they were purchased many of them over 20 years ago. I didn't realise that jewellery had gone up so much in value. They are classifying it as theft and not burglary now that I've explained the circumstances. I just don't want to stress myself out more than necessary by searching futilely for decent photo's and instruction manuals and things if they are just going to tell me I don't have a claim that's all. I know this sounds odd but I have had so much upset and stress over the last few months that I don't think I can take any more and would rather just cancel the claim if this is going to be the case.

[unclebulgaria67]

I do have 5 lever locks on the only door which opens although the door itself is not in a very good condition. The front door is stuck shut and there is no key for it. I have locks on the windows except for one which I was going to have replaced before I became ill. I received a letter just after I made the claim which informed me that when the policy was due for renewal next year I would be required to have the approved locks before the renewal could take place. Does this then mean that I'm ok until renewal time? I'm sure there was something in the small print about family members so I just hope they will see that I had no alternative other than to leave him in the property albeit briefly. I think drugs must be involved in this case, I can't think of any other reason for his behaviour. Thanks for your input.

 

Yes if they wrote to you following the claim saying that a minimum level of security was required from renewal, then at the time of loss there does not appear to have been such a requirement. You need to explain the situation with the jewellery and not knowing the value, as had the Insurers known about the value, they may have applied security requirements to the policy.

 

Yes there is something in the wording about family members which is meant to avoid claims where someone within the family normally resident at the Insured address, commits a criminal act. BUT this is where you need to provide full details of the situation and hope that they take it into account. I think they should, but I cannot guarantee it 100%.

[suzieb54]

Thank you so much for taking the time out to try and put my mind at rest. I will use your suggestions and hope for the best. If anyone can think of anything else I'd be grateful.. Thanks again

[papasmurf1cx]

Burglary is effectively Theft or attempted theft + a trespass. Trespass = entry to a building or PART of a building. It is fairly obvious you restricted his access to parts of your home. He therefore entered those parts he should not have and stole the items. You say he was prosecuted and found guilty. That shows the level of disquiet you have against your own son, any insurance company should consider theft of your property in these circumstances as a legitimate claim. The loss adjusters will want to ensure that the property you say was stolen did in fact exist and so all photos showing these items will be useful. They may even get an expert in jewellry in to assess the value from the photos. They will even look at YOU, YOUR LIFE STYLE, YOUR OTHER POSSESSIONS to make a judgement on quality of possessions to see if the value is consistent with other goods you own. Having anything to convince them of the value is good.

 

Sorry to hear of you illness, it is the last thing you need. Without being too morbid about it, I hope you have made a suitable will putting this errant son in his place.... we have family just like this, so I know where you are coming from!!

 

Good luck.

[suzieb54]

This is not good news. Most of my jewellery was not bought by me but by my ex husband and the partner I had after him. We were quite well off back in the day but when he left me in 1996 he hadn't paid the mortgage for months and I had to sell the house and buy something much smaller. I have been unable to maintain the property very well since then as I never had any maintenance from him and my job doesn't pay that much. Everything I had of any value was in my jewellery box and he took everything apart from three rings I was wearing and some worthless costume jewellery. I have found some photo's but I don't think they show the items clearly enough to be able to determine the value. I also have a couple of photo's of my mother wearing her pearls and her wedding ring but again not large enough to be able to see that they are cultured and not imitation. I don't think I have a leg to stand on do I? Why can't they just believe that I am unlikely to further stress myself by trying an insurance [problem] when I'm a civil servant and I have just been very ill?

 

As regards the matter of restricting his entry into certain parts of my home I do have a lock on my bedroom door but at the time it was unlocked as I was getting ready for work when the assault took place.

 

I am going to change my will but at the moment I just can't face it.

[papasmurf1cx]

Stop worrying... they probably will believe you... you have the culprit... they could interview him!!

 

If you have a will, you may have mentioned some of the items in there???

Edited June 25, 2011 by papasmurf1cx

[suzieb54]

True and he did plead guilty to the thefts so surely that should convince them. Actually no, there isn't anything specifically listed. Just that all my assets should be split equally between him and his sister.

[suzieb54]

I'm a born worrier and I guess I expect things to go wrong because they normally do.