New Insurance company - will they pay for old problem ???

E

eugeniedd

Guest
I changed house insurance 3 years ago.
A serious structural crack has emerged, which is likely to be older than 3 years.

Q. What is the likelihood of the new insurance company covering the cost of repair if it does transpire that the structural damage is more than 3 years old ? or would the previous insurer be liable ?
I am assuming that a surveyor will be able to determine the approximate age of the problem.

Any assistance much appreciated !
 
Any chance the house is still covered by Homebond (i.e. less than 10 years old and originally covered) which might be another port of call if you have any problems claiming on your own insurance?
 
Re: New Insurance company - will they pay for old problem ??

No, Unfortunately the house is over thirty years old
 
Re: New Insurance company - will they pay for old problem ??

I suppose the crux of the problem is that you are obliged to disclose all relevant facts when you signed up with the new insurance company or else your insurance is invalid.

If you submitted a claim, they could argue that you should have known about the defect & declared it. You, of course, will claim that you knew nothing about it until recently.

Who has the strongest argument? I believe there are companies/individuals that will help you process your claim with the insurance company but I've no idea where you'd find one.

Sluice
 
Re: New Insurance company - will they pay for old problem ??

There are 2 issues here:
1) is the damage covered at all?
Insurance policies are not maintenance policies. Unless the crack was caused by an event covered by your insurance policy (storm/impact/subsidence etc.), then there won't be cover. SO you need to get an engineer to assess the cause of the damage. Subsidence is the usual cause of serious cracks but it is relatively rare in Ireland except, I think, in parts of Cork.
2) which insurance company?
the vast majority of household policies are on a claims occurring basis so the cover would be provided by whichever insurance company you were with at the time the 'event' took place. Again, you'll probably need an engineer to assess when the damage occurred - if it was an event which occurred over several years then, subject to agreement by each insurance company's engineer, the bill would be split in some proportion deemed fair by the insurance companies.
 
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