Insurance company GRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!

[rosebud]

Makes me wonder why we bothered paying £349 a year. for buildings & contents

The floorboards in the lounge have collapsed  in  a largeish area, phoned the insurance , they said sorry you are not covered for wear & tear WHAAAAAT,
what are we supposed to do have monkey bars & swing around the rooms, for goodness sake.
So now an expensive job to be done.  We are cancelling insurance with the Halifax, & looking elsewhere for more reasonable cover because if anything else goes wrong i am sure they will find another get out clause.
Has anyone else been fleeced by there insurance?.
I am so cross about it.

[rosebud]

[OllieC]

Hmmm, I've sold it for a lot of my career and don't know any company that would cover you for that... unless they have gone for a specific event such as flooding or fire... but if it's just the boards it shouldn't take much to fix, surely? Or have the beams gone too?

[dtw]

I would get an expert to look at them, maybe it's some sort of rot or subsidence.

[grawrc]

Mary you have just moved to that house. Either the previous owner or your surveyor may be liable if this is a fault that was concealed at the time of purchase. I'm not too familiar with how these things work in England but worth investigating I'd have thought.

Poor you! You really didn't need this!!

[rosebud]

 We are going down the road of the previous owner, we had a survey done but of course they do not lift the carpets up to look such a pity.
I feel at the end of my tether at the moment very fragile. It is enough stress moving never mind the floorboards collapsing.  Still we must be positive & hope it is not anything major then my clever husband will put it right just more work for him, he is putting a new kitchen in next week so more than enough to do.
Lets just hope for the best fingers crossed for us please peeps.

[Hyacinth]

Wot Anne wrote is along my way of thinking also Buds. Notta clue if a survey looks at the state of floorboards but worth investigating?

Also agree with Anne that you REALLY don't need this!

Let us know how you go on.

Love Lish X

[Hyacinth]

'Morning Rosebud, Friday 13th but I hope it'll be an OK one for you :-*

We must have posted at the same time, cept that my puter is so slooooow this morning my msg took ages to show after I pressed 'post'.

Should the surveyors have lifted carpets to look at the state of the floor when they did the survey? Dunno about these things...

XXX Lish

[lorna]

Mary, fingers (and toes) crossed for you. Hope it doesn't turn out to be too serious. Love to you and Ron. Lorna xx

[raisedbedted]

A surveyor wouldnt be expected to lift carpets, serious problems would normally be found just by walking across the room, obviously if its a localised problem then even this wouldnt necessarily be found.

Not the fault of the insurance company, the previous owners or even the surveyor in my opinion, just one of those annoying costly things.

[Paulines7]

I think your first step should be to get back to the surveyor, Rosebud.  I'd have thought he should have noticed that the boards were rotten.  Surveyors have tools to test for rot.

If that isn't successful then it seems you may have to do it yourself or pay someone else a lot of money.  If your husband can do it, he might find flooring grade chipboard easier to fit that boards, especially if the area is to be covered by a carpet.

[Slug_killer]

It would certainly upset me if an estate agent's mate came around my house and started pulling up the carpets.  >:(

Its not just a matter of replacing floorboards, its more why have they rotted ? Floorboards should last the lifetime of the house.

Are you in a flood zone ? in which case ALL your floorboards/joists may need looking at. (And your estate agent/surveyor should have told you.)
If its creatures, again, ALL your floorboards/joists may need looking at.

Perhaps you just have a leaking water/central heating pipe.

Floorboards are easy to replace, and will cost about £15 per square metre. (http://www.wickes.co.uk/Timber/Floorboards/icat/tffloorboards). If your OH can do kitchens, he can easily do floorboards, simples.

Joists on the other hand will require a professional and may involve the whole floor being removed.

[rosebud]

 Thank you for all your comments.
My husband is a carpenter & joiner of 50yrs , so of course he knows all the in & outs of what if & he can do them .
My beef is with the insurance & surveyer , in the first place.
Slug-killer , we are not in a flood area thank goodness, the bungalow is 70yrs old so we took out a very good insurance because of its age, & any unexpected happenings. We have only been here 5wks & never expected this to happen nor would anyone would they.

[SamLouise]

If surveyors are supposed to survey the property for the following, then I'd say someone did something wrong along the line and should be held (financially) accountable?

The general condition of the property
Any major faults in accessible parts of the building that may affect the value
Any urgent problems that need inspecting by a specialist before you sign a contract
Results of tests for damp in the walls
Damage to timbers - including woodworm or rot

[OllieC]

If it was just a basic valuation that you had there is no legal accountability towards the purchaser if something wasn't reported. The test case for this goes back to a teacher in London where a valuer failed to notice the subsidence. Teacher who had bought the house tried to sue the surveyor & lost.

[Slug_killer]

Your insurance is with the Halifax ... Hummmmm.

Isn't the Halifax part of Lloyds group, which is majority owned by the government, ie the tax payer, ie US.

Does that mean as an owner of Hailfax we all have some responsibility for your repairing floor ?   ;)

What happens if you phone your insurance broker up again, as a new customer (giving next doors address if required) and inquiring about exactly what the policy would cover ?

I suspect that Halifax/Lloyds Banking Group have been told not to payout as they are in so mch debt. Just look at the uproar about Halifax charging £1 PER DAY for going overdawn by just 1p.

[Digeroo]

You can smell rotting floor boards.  The surveyor ought to have checked.  Probably means that someone blocked up the air bricks or built an extention without putting in the necessary air circulation, surveyor ought to have noticed these.

It is possible to look under the floor boards through the airbricks with a camara.

Sorry but I also do not think that your insurance is responsible.

[rosebud]

Slug-killer what a brilliant idea, yes some of it makes sense now economy at all cost sod the property owner.

Digeroo, no we viewed the property at least 4 times for measurements & it had been empty for 3mths, Never once smelled any damp or anything in fact we commented on the fact.  The rest of the property dare i say it Mmmmm no i won`t  its Friday the blank.

Yes Ollie it was just a basic valuation survey i  am sorry to say  our fault i know  lesson learned for everyone else!!!. We have always had a survey done a good one .

[cornykev]

Sorry to hear this Mary, lets hope hubby can sort this out at a small cost.  ;D ;D ;D

[kt.]

We are cancelling insurance with the Halifax, & looking elsewhere for more reasonable cover

I have always found Halifax to be one of the cheaper insurance providers with good levels of cover in the policy.  Over the past 10 years we have only changed from them twice but always end up back.  We have claimed a maximum of 3 times and had no problems with their service.  I will be staying with them again next year too.

[Borlotti]

I'm with the Prudential, salesman called Whitegoose or Greygoose, used to clap my hands to make him fly away, but he was good. He used to spend about an hour with me about once a month, talking about pensions and insurance and I made him tea etc. They paid up when we were broken into, and I must be one of the very few people that only claimed for what was stolen, in fact they probably felt quite sorry for me as didn't have a lot to steal.  No-one comes to visit anymore and it is done over the phone.  Do miss the personal touch.