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House Insurance - say we're not covered - advice please !

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  • 07-03-2013 4:15pm
    #1
    Owenzy31
    Registered Users Posts: 27 ✭


    Looking for a bit of advice as to what to do next.
    We have a leak - don't know where the water is coming from - but water marks can been seen on the wall inside the house - between the old house & the extension - so water getting in somewhere!
    We contacted the house insurance company - who sent there own builder out to assess - he wrote on his report "peril: storm damage" - but I got a phone call from the insurance company now to say that they can't be sure it was storm damage because the source of the leak cannot be seen & that "there is no cover in force for this loss" !!!! so there will be no financial contribution from them :mad:
    I don't have a clue with this stuff - we've never claimed against any insurance - so really don't know what to do next !!! I have sent another email asking them what are we suppose to do - we have a leak, when it rains the walls get worse, we need it fixed ASAP.
    Any advice at all would be gratefully appreciated - thanks


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    #2
    Paulw
    Registered Users Posts: 13,381 ✭✭✭✭Paulw


    Get a builder out to find the fault and fix it. :confused:

    You can then haggle with the insurance company over who pays.


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    #3
    Corkbah
    Registered Users Posts: 1,668 ✭✭✭Corkbah


    do what PaulW says ...then change to a different home insurance provider....and check what the policy will and wont cover before agreeing to terms.


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    #4
    oldyouth
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,754 ✭✭✭oldyouth


    The onus is on the policyholder to establish what the cause of the damage is, not the insurer. I don't think your insurer is saying that you don't have Storm cover, they are saying they can't establish storm as having been the cause of the leak. This is standard with every insurer. You're going to have to repair the damage anyway, but get your builder to do a report on what the cause actually was and approach your insurers again.


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    #5
    P. Breathnach
    Registered Users Posts: 12,089 ✭✭✭✭P. Breathnach


    From your description of the water getting in between the old house and the extension, I think it possible that the insurance company might be right: it might be a fault in the building of the extension. It is is a flat-roofed extension, I would be particularly worried about it.

    How recently was the extension built?


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    #6
    kkelliher
    Registered Users Posts: 1,583 ✭✭✭kkelliher


    Paulw wrote: »
    Get a builder out to find the fault and fix it. :confused:

    You can then haggle with the insurance company over who pays.

    Make sure you photograph the cause of damage before you fix it


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    #7
    ravima
    Registered Users Posts: 848 ✭✭✭ravima


    You've answered your own question - you don't know where the water is coming from. That's the problem. Your policy covers you for various things (perils). You need to find out if the cause (peril) of your water ingress is one of the covered perils.

    If it is one of the covered perils, they will pay, if not, they won't.

    Onus (proof) is on you to prove the peril, rather than the insurer proving it is not.


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