Online Claims Advice for Household Insurance

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Home Insurance Q&A archive – Insurance claims advice we have provided so far…

Important !

Because insurance policies are not all the same, we cannot warrant the accuracy of the information given in these notes. We have based this information on cover typically given under most home insurance contracts, but you should in all cases check your policy wording to verify the cover provided and any exclusions applicable, and ask your insurer for advice.

My mobile phone has been stolen. Will my household contents insurance policy cover it?

An optional benefit of most household contents policies is unspecified personal possessions or personal belongings insurance, previously known as ‘all risks’ cover. If this section is included on your policy schedule, it will probably include cover for your mobile telephone, although you should check you policy schedule for the ‘single item limit’ which is the maximum payable for any single item or set which has not been specified on the policy.

There are two important areas to look at here.

Firstly, a home insurance policy will normally automatically exclude cover for any item more specifically insured by any other policy. This means that you should first check to see if you have insurance from the phone company, before looking to your household insurer for help.

Secondly, you should look at whether an insurance claim for a new replacement is your best course of action. Check your policy excess, and any future effect on premium due to No Claim Discount loss. Use this as your starting point for calculation.

If your phone is on a rolling monthly contract, it can be worth contacting your provider to see what they will offer to retain your business – they will often give you a free upgrade to a new phone in return for a commitment for a further 12 months custom.

Other danger areas – Check your policy!
Items used for professional purposes are often excluded
Cover for items stolen from vehicles is often severely restricted

My roof suffered storm damage and I paid for an emergency temporary covering to keep the house waterproof without contacting my insurer. Can I claim for the temporary covering as well as the actual repair which my insurer is organising?

Provided the actual damage was caused by the storm (see exclusions for wear and tear) and the incident is covered, your insurer should not penalise you for carrying out justifiable emergency work in order to prevent further damage from occurring to the property. Indeed, it is a condition of most policies that you must take reasonable care to limit any loss that occurs. Provided you can demonstrate that you have acted in the insurers best interest by reducing or limiting the damage done, and thus the amount they ended up paying, you should not have a problem.

My flat roof leaked during a period of very heavy rainfall. The water damaged my internal ceiling and carpet. What cover have I got?

The most important issue here is why the water penetrated your roof.
Whereas Storm Damage is an insured peril, damage caused by adverse weather conditions is not. Therefore, even if it is an exceptionally heavy rainfall, if storm conditions were not prevalent and therefore attributable as the cause of damage, a claim for the repair of the roof would be declined by the insurer, as the roof should be capable of withstanding heavy rainfall, and as such, the fact that it has failed during heavy rain is an issue of either maintenance following wear and tear on the roof, or faulty design or materials, neither of which is covered by an insurance policy.

Next, we need to look at the subsequent damage caused by the ingress of the water. Once again, ingress of water is not a standard peril on most insurance policies. Therefore, if only standard perils cover has been selected, it is unlikely that the insurer will entertain a claim for the water damage.

If you have Accidental Damage cover on your schedule for both buildings and contents, you should be able to claim for the repairs to damage caused by the ingress of water, but once again, the roof repair would still be excluded on the basis described above.

What is the definition of ‘Storm’?

There have been a number of legal battles over the definition of storm, and the term is seldom defined specifically in an insurance policy. 

The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary defines storm as: “a violent disturbance of the atmosphere, manifested by high winds, often accompanied by heavy falls of rain, hail or snow, by thunder and lightening”

For the purposes of assessment of whether a claim is justified, reference can be made to the Beaufort Scale, which describes Storm Force 10 as winds gusting at a minimum of 55mph. However, depending on other factors, it may be possible to argue the merits of a case where lesser winds have been experienced, so this should not be taken as the only benchmark.

The schedule states that I am not covered for Accidental damage, what does this mean?

If you have cover for Standard Perils, this will typically include the following:
Fire, explosion, lightening, earthquake, smoke
Storm, Flood*
Riot, civil commotion
Malicious acts**
Aircraft or objects dropped from them
Impact from vehicles or animals
Escape of water from a fixed installation**
Escape of oil from a fixed heating system**
Theft, attempted theft**
Falling trees
Falling aerials and masts
Subsidence, heave and landslip

* storm/flood damage to hedges, gates and fences normally excluded.
** These perils are often excluded if you leave your property unoccupied for a certain length of time (usually 30 or 60 days)

This means that although a fire may start accidentally, or a car may crash into your wall accidentally, these occurrences are listed in the standard perils list and are therefore insured.

In addition to the standard perils, most policies will automatically give cover for accidental damage to fixed glass and sanitary fittings under the buildings section, and accidental damage cover for non portable home entertainment equipment eg TV, home computer etc.

Accidental damage which can occur, but does not fall within these perils would need the extended ‘Accidental Damage’ option to cover them.

Some examples of this are:

Contents
Spillage of food or drink on a carpet or soft furnishing
Damage caused by dropping or knocking over fragile items
Damage caused by scorching where ignition has not occurred – eg from a hot iron or a coal jumping from a fireplace.

Buildings
Dropping an item through the ceiling when in a loft
Internal damage caused by water entering the property through an existing route or crack due to particular wind direction for example, but where no storm damage has occurred. (Repair of the point of entry would be excluded, as would any damage which happens gradually, rather than a result of a single event).

The buildings sum insured on my policy is lower than the market value of my property, am I under insured?

Not necessarily. .  The amount that you need to insure your property for is actually the cost of re-instatement, and not the market value.

This needs to cover demolition, site clearance and rebuilding, including any professional fees payable including architects fees. This should include any walls, fences, gates, garden landscaping, footpaths, hard standing areas, patios swimming pools and tennis courts.

Factors which increase the market value of a property, such as the size of the plot or the location, may only have a minimal effect on the rebuilding cost of the property.  Therefore, you will often find that the sum for which a building needs to be insured bears little relation to the actual market value.

For advice on rebuilding costs, including a quick and easy calculator for checking your sums insured, visit www.bcis.co.uk.

You should note however, that if you are unsure of the re-instatement cost of your property, there is no substitute for a professional opinion from a reputable surveyor.