House insurance settlement and flexibility of individual amounts

axer

Hi,

I have a claim for water damage that the insurance agreed a settlement amount for. This was obviously based on estimates for everything.

The settlement letter has the following table listing a summary of how much they are paying out and a high level break down.

Item Settlement
Buildings €XXXX
Alternative Accommodation €XXXX
Gross Settlement €XXXX
Less Excess €XXXX
Net Settlement €XXXX
Less Retention €XXXX
Payment Now Due €XXXX

The insurance also say on the letter:

The retention with respect to the building repairs will be considered for release subject to receipt of the
following:
- Submission of photographs of completed works
- Submission of valid VAT invoices to the agreed amount

It also included a scoping breakdown document - showing exactly how much they were giving for each item e.g. replacement floors etc.

It ended up that the building works might come in under the amount but the length of time it took is longer so the amount of rent lost is higher. Does anyone know is there normally flexibility within the settlement in that I can show the works were not completed until X date so X more rent was lost but that the building works were less? or would the insurance normally say no - what was agreed in relation to rent lost is just that figure?

I really don't know where to get the answer to the above so am hoping someone here might have an idea.

Eggs For Dinner

The key is the reason why works might take longer. If it is unavoidable, insurers will listen to alternative suggestions, if the delay is down to you not getting on with reinstatement it is unlikely