Home House flooded from mains water pipe burst

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Michael3

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Hi - the mains water pipe out in front of our house burst early on Saturday morning, flooding our house with all the ensuing damages. I went into the county council this morning - they seemed a) ignorant of any process to deal with processing a claim to pay for damage concerned and b) questioning why we would not put in our claim through our house insurance.
Surely the Council have their own insurance for this? They said it has never happened before?? Can anyone advise - we naturally want to move fast to get an assessor out and get our claim processed so we can start to repair the damage.
 
easiest thing to do is claim under own policy then let your insurer pursue council. Law is funny, council MIGHT not be liable for the damage caused to your property. You/your insurers will have to PROVE that they were negligent.
 
During the snow of Dec 2010 the water mains on the footpath outside our house burst and pushed up our new tarmacadam drive which we had done about two months before that and the council did replace our drive in due course.
 
iscritto - thanks for those links - definitely not our responsibility - it was the mains pipe out on the road that burst - the water ran down the road, through a field and burst through into the wall at the side of the house then into the house.

Ravima - I am reluctant to put a claim in with our own insurance as the council is liable for the damage and surely their insurance should pay? If I put in a claim I lose my no claims bonus and no doubt my premiums would go up - for something that is 100% not my fault
 
Michael3 said:
iscritto - thanks for those links - definitely not our responsibility - it was the mains pipe out on the road that burst - the water ran down the road, through a field and burst through into the wall at the side of the house then into the house.

Ravima - I am reluctant to put a claim in with our own insurance as the council is liable for the damage and surely their insurance should pay? If I put in a claim I lose my no claims bonus and no doubt my premiums would go up - for something that is 100% not my fault
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You Should notify your insurance company straight away even if you dont wish at this moment to make a claim. If you leave it they may not cover you at a later stage if you need to turn to them.

In respect to the council you have to prove neglegence. If the pipe burst I cannot see how you will be able to prove neglegence and therefore you will have no option but to cover the cost yourself unless the council wish to assist. Let your insurance company make the claim against the council as they are better situated to compile and chase that element of the claim. You pay insurance for this very reason and any increase in premium will be well outwayed by the cost of repair.
 
I really dont agree with this. The council were out on Saturday and admitted liability. They are responsible for maintaining the mains water pipes. If a pipe bursts and floods my property is that not why they have public liability insurance? I rang my insurance company first thing on Monday morning and they told us not to put in a claim if the council had admitted liability. Is there anyone to give advice who actually works in insurance?
 
Michael3 said:
I really dont agree with this. The council were out on Saturday and admitted liability. They are responsible for maintaining the mains water pipes. If a pipe bursts and floods my property is that not why they have public liability insurance? I rang my insurance company first thing on Monday morning and they told us not to put in a claim if the council had admitted liability. Is there anyone to give advice who actually works in insurance?
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Michael I do work in insurance and I have also been involved in recovery claims and in particular in respect to claims against Local Authorities. If you cannot prove they are neglegent then they are not liable for the cost of repair irrespective what an on the ground worker might have said to you. A Pipe Bursting is very dofferent to a pipe leaking. Maintenance cannot generally prevent bursting pipes as the majority of pipes that burt do so due to pressure changes or climatic conditions. Local Authorities generally self insure and wound not have a specific policy of insurance. They have a department that look after the claims and you should contact the department directly to get their actual official view on the issue and not base your decisions on the opinions of council site workers as they will not have responsibility for this.
 
Michael3,

I agree with you, why should you claim through your own house insurance and effect your no claims etc, as from the links above the council are responsible.... not at fault but responsible. ( that bit is important)

So you don't need to prove anything... they just need to send an assessor to view the damage... take some pics yourself also.

Best of luck you will have a fight on your hands, as with the council nothing is ever easy.
 
Get your own insurance assesors and they will handle everything for you (lots in the goldenpages /google) they will deal with your insurance companies assesors on your behalf ,they will agree a settlement figure and protect your interests,you should claim under the" Escape of water" clause on your policy ,your assesor will handle the claim for you they will inform the insurance assesor of all the details of what happened and the insurance company may pursue the council for a claim ...not your problem . A similar situation happened to my Sister but it was a neighbours pipe not the council's which burst , 19k settlement damages and her renewal premium was up only 100 euro on previous year. It was 6 inches of water all ground floor. all walls had to be replastered upto 4ft ,aparently the water gets sucked up the walls and damp rot sets in if not rectified.

P.S dont throw out anything and you may be covered to move into other accomodation at the insurance companies cost
 
iscritto said:
Michael3,

I agree with you, why should you claim through your own house insurance and effect your no claims etc, as from the links above the council are responsible.... not at fault but responsible. ( that bit is important)

So you don't need to prove anything... they just need to send an assessor to view the damage... take some pics yourself also.

Best of luck you will have a fight on your hands, as with the council nothing is ever easy.
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Unfortunately this is the way it works. The same goes for house fires. If your neighbours house goes on fire as a result of an accident (ie no malicious or neglegence) and your house burns down, you have to claim off your own house insurance and not your neighbours and your insurance company cannot claim from your neighbour either.

The bottom line it comes down to why do the incident occur. If it was neglegence then you have a claim if not you generally dont.

you have house insurance to cover these issues and therefore you should use same to rectify your damage and if a claim can be made against the council let them do it and dont put yourself under the stress of dealing with the issue
 
Thanks all - honestly, your replies have been very helpful and I want to give an update. The Council have passed on all the details to their insurance company who have been in contact with me and have agreed to process the claim. Their own assessor is coming out to the property asap. So that's good news in that respect. I had loads of photos taken of the road and the damage in the house for them which I am sure helped the matter. We had in the meantime called an independent assessor who was willing to come out but would be looking for a fee of 10% of any payout! That could be €600 or €6000 - just to come and have a look! Lesson learnt all round anyway.
 
Im glad to hear that things are progressing but I think you should still consult with your solicitor.
 
Michael3 said:
The Council have passed on all the details to their insurance company who have been in contact with me and have agreed to process the claim. Their own assessor is coming out to the property asap. So that's good news in that respect.
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It will be interesting to see what response you get from the adjuster hopefully good news
 
Just wanted to give an update here - good news. Assessor came out, took photos, we submitted details of damage and replacement values etc - claim is now being processed and we should be compensated for the replacement value of damaged items and rebuilding works required asap.
 
Michael3 said:
Just wanted to give an update here - good news. Assessor came out, took photos, we submitted details of damage and replacement values etc - claim is now being processed and we should be compensated for the replacement value of damaged items and rebuilding works required asap.
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Thanks for keeping us updated.
 
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