gc100 Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 (edited) So while moving in we had a pipe fitting failed and has flooded the house. Most of the skirting is ruined and all the carpets throughout are ruined. I have been working 24/7 to try and sort. I've managed to dry everything out by making scaffolding beds and laying the carpets on top and blasting with 2x desel powered heater, 2x air movers and 2x dehumidifiers. I've replaced all the skirting and now making good with painting etc etc. Its been a nightmare to say the least and we in temporary accommodation. A guy from the insurance is coming tomorrow to right a report . Obviously its looking much better than it was 6 days ago when this happened. We took out normal house insurance about 2 weeks ago as we was planning to move in last weekend. I'm really worried that they won't pay out because we was not yet living there - I was literally in the middle of moving all our stuff in - most of our belongings where in, but the large stuff like beds etc was not yet in. Whilst in the inside of the house is complete bar a little painting and some grout, the outside of the house has yet to be clad, as we are waiting to dryer weather to do that. I am really worried they will not pay sighting things like we was not living there, its a building site, etc, etc Anyone got any experience of this? Edited February 3, 2021 by gc100 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bitpipe Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 It's a grey areas wrt domestic home insurance as to whether you're covered if the house is not officially complete when you take occupation. Do you have a completion certificate for the house from building control (local authority or private)? We took a punt and switched from site/build insurance to regular domestic when our property was broadly complete but still needed external works to get BCO sign off (which took 18 months). We also had a leak on occupation but fortunately got to it quickly and damage was minor - we were able to recover costs (£500) from the plastering company who put a screw through a pipe during tacking. Whose fault was the leak? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newhome Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 51 minutes ago, gc100 said: We took out normal house insurance about 2 weeks ago as we was planning to move in last weekend. I imagine you could blag the moving in thing but do you have a completion certificate and if not did you explain this when you took out the insurance? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gc100 Posted February 3, 2021 Author Share Posted February 3, 2021 Its not signed off yet - we got the insurance online and there was not question about being signed off or anything. A male iron fitting sheared off - so the manufacture I suppose. Bought from screwfix. Doesn't sound hopeful. We did have site insurance which ran out over the weekend , so the flood happened before - we could go down that route with them but not sure they cover things like carpets etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nod Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 Our self build insurance ended three weeks before we moved in So like you we took out a home insurance We told them the house would be empty for several weeks and asked if we where broken into or flooded Would we be covered His answer was yes But if your plasma TVs and jewelry are lost or damaged we won’t cover these I think you should be ok Oh and being signed off was never mentioned We moved in Dec 7 and were signed off March 5 Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bitpipe Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 18 minutes ago, gc100 said: Its not signed off yet - we got the insurance online and there was not question about being signed off or anything. A male iron fitting sheared off - so the manufacture I suppose. Bought from screwfix. Doesn't sound hopeful. We did have site insurance which ran out over the weekend , so the flood happened before - we could go down that route with them but not sure they cover things like carpets etc. Ok, I'd look at the site insurance too as it was in effect when the leak happened and does not have the usual caveats wrt occupation that domestic insurance policies apply. HRMC do not consider carpets as building materials for zero rating but that does not mean they are exempt from your site insurance policy so you need to read the small print. Worst case it will cover the skirting and other remedial action. Would not mention the site insurance to the home insurance company at this stage until specifically asked - obviously don't consider making a claim on both as that's fraud. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 What is the floor construction? I have twice been involved with the renovation of (older) houses that have flooded from burst pipes, and the remedial work has been serious, strip everything back to bare joists, try out for weeks with industrial dehumidifiers and rebuild. Not a cheap or quick process. I guess they are concerned if you don't strip back and just dry out what you can see and redecorate there is the risk of something like dry rot later? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epsilonGreedy Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 2 hours ago, gc100 said: We took out normal house insurance about 2 weeks ago as we was planning to move in last weekend. I'm really worried that they won't pay out because we was not yet living there - I was literally in the middle of moving all our stuff in - most of our belongings where in, but the large stuff like beds etc was not yet in. Whilst in the inside of the house is complete bar a little painting and some grout, the outside of the house has yet to be clad, as we are waiting to dryer weather to do that. I am really worried they will not pay sighting things like we was not living there, its a building site, etc, etc So spend the next 12 hours moving everything else in before he arrives then get the moderators to delete this thread pronto. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyT Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 If they have taken your cash and issued an insurance document you are covered, As always insurance companies will do their hardest not to pay out. don’t offer any additional information, answer questions briefly and factually without being an ar@e. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterW Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 Most house policies have a 30 or 60 day empty / unnocupied clause in them and they start from day 1 so it’s irrelevant as to whether you’ve moved in or not. I’ve moved house (and had to buy insurance) from the date of completion but not moved in for a couple of weeks and that is all standard cover. If this had been a new house you bought from a house builder you could have been in exactly the same position. Have you got any warranty in place as that may also be useful to cover the cost as it is a material defect but may not cover consequential damage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Temp Posted February 4, 2021 Share Posted February 4, 2021 8 hours ago, gc100 said: We did have site insurance which ran out over the weekend , so the flood happened before - we could go down that route with them but not sure they cover things like carpets etc I suspect you may have to go that route. Check if you have to notify them of a claim within x days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Temp Posted February 4, 2021 Share Posted February 4, 2021 Plumbers insurance or were you the plumber? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gc100 Posted February 4, 2021 Author Share Posted February 4, 2021 (edited) 19 hours ago, ProDave said: What is the floor construction? I have twice been involved with the renovation of (older) houses that have flooded from burst pipes, and the remedial work has been serious, strip everything back to bare joists, try out for weeks with industrial dehumidifiers and rebuild. Not a cheap or quick process. I guess they are concerned if you don't strip back and just dry out what you can see and redecorate there is the risk of something like dry rot later? anhydrite screed. We had to pull all skirting back to the joists which where pretty dry. We had the UFH on full blast, dehumidifier, dryers and air movers. The whole place it getting pretty dry now. I will make sure it bine dry. 18 hours ago, epsilonGreedy said: So spend the next 12 hours moving everything else in before he arrives then get the moderators to delete this thread pronto. I'm not into fraud. 12 hours ago, Temp said: Plumbers insurance or were you the plumber? A plumber was used but it wasn't due to bad workmanship . Thanks all for your thoughts. Someone on behalf of the insurance company has been out today to write a report so I will find out in due course. He was more interested in the cost if the build and repair cost of drive as we've read that most wiggle out of these payments as people under estimated the cost of total rebuild cover which invalidates a massive % of the liability. We however have definitely cost this aspect covered. Edited February 4, 2021 by gc100 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Punter Posted February 4, 2021 Share Posted February 4, 2021 We had a flood in a finished mid terrace show home. Fitting popped on the first floor and water was on overnight, so I came and the downstairs was like a rainforest. We managed to dry it out with heating on full plus big radiant heaters and 2 big dehumidifiers. We left it all on full tilt for about 3 weeks. It was fairly dry after week 1 but there were 2 layers of plasterboard and some mineral wool in the ceilings. We kept pretty much everything and redecorated. The ground floor was concrete and tiled. Just make sure you use loads of heat and dehumidifiers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gc100 Posted February 4, 2021 Author Share Posted February 4, 2021 We just had a very close look at the policy and it states that the house has to be in 'good state of repair' . If I Google that definition it says: Quote A property in a good state of repair is one without structural problems. Your property is not considered to be in a good state of repair if it has dry rot, rot or infestation requiring timber or window replacement, damp, roof or chimney stack damage, faulty wiring or incomplete construction. We have yet to complete the cladding and garage door, so I suspect they will use this as an excuse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Punter Posted February 4, 2021 Share Posted February 4, 2021 I think you may be OK as this was not caused by incomplete construction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gc100 Posted February 4, 2021 Author Share Posted February 4, 2021 ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newhome Posted February 4, 2021 Share Posted February 4, 2021 20 hours ago, PeterW said: Most house policies have a 30 or 60 day empty / unnocupied clause in them and they start from day 1 so it’s irrelevant as to whether you’ve moved in or not For a standard house purchase yes but there are some policies where you are renovating whilst living there that state that you may not leave the property empty overnight even for one night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gc100 Posted February 4, 2021 Author Share Posted February 4, 2021 At the end of the day its just down to the policy and what they think they can get away with if going to court. I will see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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