UK Landlord Forum / Life

My loss adjuster says my claim for a wrecked house is underinsured. And each damaged room is subject to a £250 excess.. not one excess for the whole claim.. even a broken window, smashed door and wrecked oven.. all have separate £250 excess.. as do a hammered laminate floor, a smashed bath panel, burnt laminate floor, interior glass shot out ( !) and several other acts of madness..

He says the cost of rebuilding the ex council house ( and the "reason" I'm underinsured...) is £1429 per square meter.. my house was insured for £65000 rebuild based on a report from a Construction site manager and an Estate agent.. Adjuster says that's not a surveyors report and he claims my rebuild should be £120,000..so my claim is to be referred back to the Underwriters for confirmation that I'm covered for the best part of nothing.. The Site manager for Bellway Homes said he can build a five bed detached for that money and the local Estate agent openly laughed at the Adjusters estimate.. Not sure if that helps..

I'll fight this and let you know what bullshit I discover.. but I've read and re-read my policy and other information and see no reference to my newly discovered "terms"..

Where's the Ombudsman to be found for a row like this, and has anyone else had this type of bitter disappointment after a nightmare tenancy ends..?

I'm not feeling too festive..  so check your own rebuild valuations and excess policies and have a Merry Christmas, unlike me...

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/insurance/insurance/problems-with-insurance-policies/problems-with-an-insurance-claim/

Thanks KTC, I'm already heading that way... the post was largely an attempt to find out if this is normal practice and especially to serve as a warning to all of us about the potential disappointment to be experienced if your original Rebuild value is actually lower than your insurance will claim it should be...

To call the damage at my place "wear and tear" is laughable, but I lost my sense of humour at the £250 excess on each and every item damaged... some of it may well be accidental and some of it might be malicious, we'll never know because the tenant left owing 4 months rent and didn't bother to leave a forwarding address for some reason... every room had suffered damage, including missing doors ( broken by force and left in the garden ) and a UPVC window frame with a hole through it as though it had been shot with an air rifle.. I had a bath panel in two pieces, an impact hole three inches deep in a laminate floor, kitchen worktops damaged beyond repair and delaminated, interior glass shot out ( perfect circular hole with fracture lines..) electrical sockets driven back into the wall and a hole the size of a dinner plate surrounding it, plaster torn from he ceiling when one of a pair of light fittings was torn out.. there's probably more but you get the picture... All "wear and tear" and all subject to individual excess of £250, according to the "apologetic" Loss adjuster...

It's probably a very common get out clause and I won't be the first to hear it, but if anyone has had the argument with their Insurance company it would be good to hear about it, and how any dispute went..

Sorry no advice but thanks for sharing this. I really do hope you succeed. I actually hate those 3 words more than I should 'wear and tear'. Do you have any updates?

No, they've gone quiet and I've been busy doing repairs ... I'll bother them on Monday and report back...
Not expecting much assistance but it's almost renewal time so I need to  Go compare.. at double the rebuild costs for a start...