Home home insurance claim

Hi There,

I had an issue where floor tiles came up from the kitchen floor by themselves.There was no apparent reason for this as they were lain 14 years ago.I got a builder on the advice of my insurance company who lifted up the tiles affected but there was no apparent reason.I then got an engineer to check it out as I was afraid of subsidence etc.He could find nothing either.The Insurance company sent out the claims handler who checked everything but came up with no cause either.The engineer speculated in his report that the cause may have been the bonding coming loose with the tiles floating over the sub floor as a result.The Insurance company are now putting the cause down to shoddy workmanship and are refusing to cover me.Needless to say I dispute this as its 14 years since the tiles were laid not 14 days.What are my options

Just a couple of questions. Do you have accidental damage cover? Otherwise after 14 years it could be classed as wear and tear if there is no obvious reason. The onus is on you as the policy holder to justify your claim and therefore you will have to prove the cause within one of the insureed risks on the insurance policy.

Unless the insured can demonstrate that the damage to the tiling is due to the operation of an insured peril within the terms of the policy, then insurers do not have a liability. In this instance, it would seem that despite extensive investigations being carried out, the cause has not being determined as being due to the operation of an insured peril. Insurance policies are not maintenance contracts.