Home Will my home insurance cover damage caused by shoddy workmanship carried out before I bought my house?

Mccabet2

Mccabet2

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We bought a house in March and yesterday two tiles in bathroom downstairs which is also a wet room started to seperate. This morning they caved in completely and the floor boards underneath too. A friend took a look and it appears that whoever installed the wet room shower did not run the shower gully into any drainage pipe. Just running straight down into ground which caused the floorboards to rot. Hoping someone can advise if this would be covered by my home insurance? TIA
 
Put in a claim and see what they say.

Though before you do so, I’d recommend that you contact a Loss Adjuster in advance, as those guys are good at negotiating claims for customers (for a good cut of whatever you might eventually get!). They’ll tell you straight off the bat whether you’re likely to succeed, as they’re used to dealing with insurance companies and customers’ claims.

I don’t think your policy would cover the damage, as the cause arose before the date the policy commenced, but I could be wrong.
 
I did indeed and report came back that the house was fine. It's a crap situation really.
 
Many policies have an exclusion for damage caused over time such as this, they're generally limited to damage caused by a burst pipe or apparatus.
 
1. AFAIK household insurance contracts may exclude losses arising from faulty / defective workmanship.

2. Damage arising before inception of the policy is probably not covered because it would be a cause that did not arise during the period of cover.
So, when did the damage occur ? As a matter of probability nobody ever really knows with a gradually operating cause like this.
Even then the insurers will probably get you with the gradual cause argument.

Remember that the policyholder bears the onus to prove that an insured peril has occurred.

3. Any recourse to previous owners / vendors ? Probably not, especially if you had the property inspected by a surveyor before purchase. Caveat emptor applies to house purchases as well.

4. Any recourse to the surveyor for professional negligence in not spotting this ? Highly unlikely as their obligation is to bring such care and attention to the survey as is reasonable to expect. Surveyors cannot be responsible for detecting what cannot be seen unless there was some other clue that might have put them on alert for the problem but I see no evidence of this.

I agree with Johnno75 at #3 above as being the right course of action.
 
Once remedied you could send a letter to the vendor requesting they contribute to the cost.

They would have zero legal obligation to do so but you never know.
 
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