Whatever You Do, Don't Claim Like This!

In this article, my latest in the series on making sure you're properly covered, I'm going to look at buildings insurance. More precisely, I'm going to take a look at a poor caricature of a man who's trying to claim for damage to what is, frankly, a house of horrors. Needless to say, this person isn't real, but each individual scenario is fairly common.

"My house has just collapsed at the back. It'll cost £4,000 to repair. Can I claim this please?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because you only insured the property for £90,000, but the full rebuild cost is £120,000."
"What's that got to do with it? I'm only claiming £4,000!"
"As the sum insured is three quarters of the full rebuild cost, you'll get a settlement of three quarters, which is £3,000. Less your £50 policy excess, of course."

"Really? I didn't know that. Also, there was a leak in my roof last night caused by quite a heavy storm."
"No."
"No there wasn't a storm or no I can't claim?"
"Both."
"Yes there was! I was sleeping under it. I thought I'd wet myself."
"There was no severe storm in your area last night. My computer says so."
"OK fine, it was a gust then. Why are you quibbling? Are you going to repair my roof or not?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because the damage wasn't caused by a storm, which means it was due to gradual wear and tear. Your insurance isn't a maintenance contract. We will, however, pay for any damage to the building caused by water that leaked in."
"Does my bed count as part of the building?"
"No."

"Fine! Forget it. What about my fence? A tree root or something has gone underneath it and the whole thing has started to collapse. You'll at least pay for that?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because we don't cover damage to hedges, gates or fences caused by frost, heave, subsidence, landslip or pretty much anything else really."

"Right, but I think last summer a tree caused some subsidence at the front of my house, and my house isn't a gate, hedge or fence per se, is it? You'll cover that, right?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Firstly because you should have told us as soon as you became aware of the damage and secondly because you didn't tell us there was a tree near your house."
"You didn't ask!"
"It's your duty to give us all relevant information even if it's not asked for. It's called 'duty of disclosure'."

"Wha-? OK, how about..."
"No."

"Or..."
"No."

"But..."
"No."

"Fine!"

slam! dead tone

To calculate the true rebuild cost of your property, you can use the calculator on the Association of British Insurers website. For all other insurance matters, including more tips or a quote, visit our Insurance centre.