We have a 1930's semi (without sarking). Our neighbour contacted us the
other day say that that following the heavy rain, she's got some water
marking in the front corner of her upstairs front bedroom - the corner
where the two houses meet.

She called in her insurance company who sent a surveyor. They have
rejected the claim saying:

"From the inspection of your property, it was identified that water
ingress has damaged the ceiling in the front bedroom. Water has entered
the property via the roof above. We inspected the roof and found that
there was a missing tile and two dislodged tiles at the front edge of
the chimney-stack built over the party wall. There was no evidence of
storm damage to the roof, which is displaying signs of aging, such as
moss growth between the tiles. As you are aware, your buildings policy
provides cover for damage to the structure of your property caused by
events detailed in your policy documents. The damage described above is
considered to be the result of wear and tear, which is not an insured
event and therefore XXXX are unable to cover any expenses incurred in
its repair."

The neighbour spoke to Age Concern (who were the ones to arranged the
insurance) who said that as it was over the party wall section, that
both her and myself are jointly responsible for the repair.

This sounds fair, if the leak is caused by the missing tile/dislodged
tiles. But I just wanted to make sure about it.

She is going to get quotes from two local roofing people (who are on the
list of recommended/approved people provided by Trading Standards). If
they come up with other repairs they think are necessary to the roof
(ie. elsewhere, away from the middle) - I'll insist on only paying for
the work which is related to the party section of the wall - is that
reasonable? She seems okay with this, and is aware of people who try to
bump up the amount of work.


A picture of the roof is he
http://www.swampie.ukfsn.org/IMG_0100(Large).JPG

We're aware of the missing tile to the left (which is our part of the
roof) and we've not had a problem with that - might ask the guy to quote
for replacing it whilst he's up there - but it's the bit in front of the
chimney stack (which is on the party wall) which is where they're saying
the problem is. I can see a missing tile, and water may have been blown
up in the high wind/rain we had. The actual water damage is at the
front of the room, but may have run down inside the roof, rather than
straight down the edge of the chimney.

Also - any ideas of the sort of price I should expect for the work?

Thanks

David