Home insurance Claims (ONLC)

[meatball]

Go and have a drink of irn bru.......
At least thats the weekend here, hope it all sorts itself out sir!

[renmure]

it gets worse my iron broke

You have an iron?????

[BiggestNizzy]

Today I am absolutly fuming with the crappy policy I am forced to take through my factor

Upstairs flat had a water leak and that has damaged both my flat and the guy below me (the guy who had the leak has got off scott free) after 2 weeks they eventually repaired the leaking pipe and have told me that I must pay as will the guy Below me £100 excess on the insurance.

When I queryed this with the factor.

Mr Nisbet,

In response to your email, I can confirm that as this is a block insurance policy, there is no recovery aspect available to claim back from the owner of the flat who caused the initial damage. You could privately approach this owner and ask for their contribution however Ross & Liddell or the Insurer could not get involved in this request.

If any owner has damage to their own flat which requires a claim for the damage to be rectified then it is each owner’s responsibility to pay a £100 excess, should the damage have been water related. If other insured peril this would be £50.

If Flat 22 did not have damage there would be no reason for him to intimate a claim.

I trust this clarifies the situation

all this clarifies is that my insurance appears to be utter crap and I forced to take it.

Does anyone here have experience with this or have any advice (beating up the factor/guy upstairs although temping isn't practical)

[neil]

I hate to say it but that's standard insurance stuff. Even if you had a separate policy to the guy upstairs the only way you could claim against him would be if you could prove he was negligent - ie had known about the leak and done nothing about it. It doesn't seem right but thats the way it is. Chin up!

[jj]

I had a problem with a leak a few months back, which the builder sorted FOC for the affected flats. However, it was thought to have come from one guys flat, and the dude went round all the affected people and offered to square them up for any out-of-pocket costs, which was most decent (and unrequired) of him. Nobody had spent any cash so it wasnt needed.

If you were really irked a chat with the neighbour might yield an offer but I think in the interest of neighbourly relations you`d be best to let it lie. Unless he is a dobber in which case ask him .

[Nicks]

Ask your factor to provide you with copies of all of the insurance deeds and documents - legally they have to do that. Then take them to the Citizens Advice Bureau, or a lawyer mate, and find out what the actual position is. It all gets a bit complicated, but if you can prove that the damage was caused by someone else, which is quite straightforward when you have water coming through your ceiling, you shouldn't be penalised for it. Had a similar situation last year with a flat I rent out - I had to submit the insurance claim, but the flat which caused the leak had to cover the excess. If you really want to annoy the factor, ask to see the audited reports and accounts for the block. You should then be able to see how much the insurance premiums actually are, and how much commission the factor is taking - will probably be about 10%.

Hope that helps - good luck!

[BiggestNizzy]

I like annoying the factor £1200+ a year all in each flat I think I will make his life miserable.

[BiggestNizzy]

I have just received a email from the insurance department

Cover
Your policy insures loss or damage caused by the following:-

6. Bursting, leaking or overflowing of watertanks, pipes or apparatus excluding :-
a)Destruction or damage occurring during any period in excess of 30 days when the building is left unoccupied.
b)£100 maximum excess per unit/flat

[D50]

I used to work in Insurance and basically what everyone forgets is, or does not know, is, that on your Home Insurance Policy you probably will have (as standard) a legal helpline. Now, this, believe it or not, is your 24 hour Citizens Advice Line.

If you buy something that you feel you have been ripped off with, or given a service that you are not happy with, dial the number.

We had issues with a major builder of our house and I ended up phoning the legal helpline with our insurer for advice. They put me in touch with a lawyers helpline number which was free of charge as they called me back - pretty quickly I must add - and they gave me all the advice I needed.

So, for anything - whether it's buying a car, questions of insurance, anything, look up your policy and call your legal helpline - after all you are paying for it. You might as well use it. These guys know what they are talking about and will advise you the best they can with up to date information.
Try it - they can only say no!

Janet

[point n squirt]

When you get contractors in ask them to add £100 on to cover your excess they will not be shocked trust me .Its the world we live in

[BiggestNizzy]

If you really want to annoy the factor, ask to see the audited reports and accounts for the block.
Hope that helps - good luck!

I did that last night and in his usuall move got back to me at bang on 5pm

He is going to send me a copy of my "last account and statement" I am guessing he's palming me off but just wanted to check with the SE collective mind before I rip into him (preperation and all that).

I have had a look through the insurance policy but I plan on speaking to citizens advice on Friday. I will also get a copy of the deeds just to make sure I am forced to take a communal policy. I don't trust my factor as far as I can through him (and he's fat)

I have looked through The policy document they sent me and nowhere does it mention any legal helpline, all it mentions is the factors number and that everything should go through them, but I will call Allianz and get the down from them.

[cla5h]

Don't think you can take it out on your upstairs neighbour, as, unless he was negligent, it was an accident.

Also, both you and your downstairs neighbour have made a claim, so have to pay the excess.

I've been in a similar situation (I was the flooder) and agreed to pay my neighbour's excess, when he raised it with me.
However, I could quite easily told him to go to f*** (which is pretty much what I did the next time he complained aboout staining on his ceiling - "nothing to do with me this time mate, must be coming from somewhere else")

Not sure about the issue of having to take insurance through your factor though - seems a bit anti-competitive.

[BiggestNizzy]

It's happened again ffs at the exact same place

incandesant with rage after spending all of January last year in a hotel while a crap builder "fixed" my flat. It looks as If I will have to do it all again this year.

[Lazydonkey]

Nizzy - I've used Ross & liddel twice with past properties and they are sh*t. Really really sh*t. You have my sympahties.

On the whole excess thing, i flooded my downstairs neighbour some time back , offered to pay his excess of £100 which he took me up on. Yes it was money out of my pocked which was annoying but it's worth it to not have any animosity in the block. I flooded him. I was embarrassed so it went some way to getting rid of my embarrassment.

I would have thought most people would do the same - but i suspect that this isn't the case

[BiggestNizzy]

The excess thing this time around is the least of my worries, Ross and Liddell are indeed sh*t we have tried to get rid many times but the vote never passes. I am with you on the whole pay the excess thing I was going to pay the bloke downstairs lastyear when I thought it was me who caused the leak, as it turned out it was the guy on the top floor.

Anyway I have contacted Ross & Liddell as the buildings insurance is through them (not through choice) and await their responce.

I was going to melt the guy upstairs with a cricket bat but after reading another post that would appear to be disproportionate