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Ins Co turned down my Rent Guarantee claim (tenant hasn’t paid rent and is S

Started by Jeremy9, February 14, 2021, 02:16:20 PM

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Jeremy9

Hi, insurance company turned down my claim for unpaid rent by tenant since August 2020. These are the facts:
- Ins company have agreed all requested documentation were provided to them by me as part of the claim process, however they say the required self employed reference on the tenant was not satisfactory (tenant is a businessman, on commencement of the tenancy he had a number of businesses, he was the ultimate boss, also see next points)
-  AST Tenancy commenced in 2014. Until August 2020 the rent has been paid regularly; no rent has been paid since August 2020
- 2014 to 2017 the tenant paid the rent 6 months in advance - without fail
- 2018 to July 2020 the tenant paid the rent monthly as per amended contract
- August 2020 to January 2021 (contract end date, contract not renewed) no rent has been paid. Also tenant has not vacated in spite of the appropriate notices being provided as required by law. Effectively the tenant is squatting blaming the impact of Covid on his financial situation.

Even if the tenant's self employed references were not thorough or satisfactory from the insurance company's point of view, surely the above facts [which were also provided to the insurance company in 2017 before they agreed to grant the policy (which was renewed three times since 2017)] prove that the tenant was of good financial standing for 6the first 6 years of the tenancy.  Surely the insurance company should take it into account that lot can happen in 7 years to  the circumstances of any tenant, including those whose self employed references would have been satisfactory at the start 7 years ago and which were provided as per the required process?

Is the insurance company right in turning down my claim? Can I appeal? If yes who can I appeal to and how.

Thank you.

KTC

When you took out the insurance, the insurer would have laid out in its terms and conditions with you what they require in terms of referencing for perspective tenant. Only if you can evidence that those were carried out to the letter and satisfactory would the insurer be liable to pay out. It doesn't matter how many years the tenant were good for, or how good financially they were in fact when they started, the only thing that matter is whether you can evidence what they specified were required.

As to who and how to appeal: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/insurance/insurance/problems-with-insurance-policies/problems-with-an-insurance-claim/