I wish to make a buildings insurance claim for our current
chimney...which apparently needs repointing, capping and the sailing
brick work around the pots rebuilding as it has buckled over the years.


I know that there is this thing called a pre-existing condition under
which the insurance company will not pay out. Understood. However, if I
were to leave the situation, the chimney will likely crash through the
roof one day causing untold damage and cost.

So I would like to make a pre-emptive strike and claim now to fix the
situation. The question is do I

a) Get the work done and submit a bill to the insurance company (since
there is evidence of repointing necessary and this could quite likely
have been caused by high winds)

or

b) Ring the insurance company, explain there has been a bad storm and
as a result the chimney needs repointing (not entirely untrue) and risk
them sending an assessor to check the damage

Help?

I wish to make a buildings insurance claim for our current
chimney...which apparently needs repointing, capping and the sailing
brick work around the pots rebuilding as it has buckled over the
years.


I know that there is this thing called a pre-existing condition under
which the insurance company will not pay out. Understood. However, if
I were to leave the situation, the chimney will likely crash through
the roof one day causing untold damage and cost.

So I would like to make a pre-emptive strike and claim now to fix the
situation. The question is do I

a) Get the work done and submit a bill to the insurance company (since
there is evidence of repointing necessary and this could quite likely
have been caused by high winds)

That would be fraud.

b) Ring the insurance company, explain there has been a bad storm and
as a result the chimney needs repointing (not entirely untrue) and
risk them sending an assessor to check the damage

That would be fraud..

The bottom line is pay up and accept that cheating the insurer is a bad
thing.

Peter Crosland

That would be fraud..

The bottom line is pay up and accept that cheating the insurer is a bad
thing.

Peter Crosland

Thanks for your advice and honesty. Truth is, we honestly don't know if
the current repairs are necessary due to a previous storm...but it's
only recently that we've noticed it. So there is an element of truth in
what I'm saying. I am not deliberately trying to defraud the insurance
company.

On 27 Oct 2006 06:13:28 -0700 Nonymouse wrote :
I wish to make a buildings insurance claim for our current
chimney...which apparently needs repointing, capping and the sailing
brick work around the pots rebuilding as it has buckled over the years.

I know that there is this thing called a pre-existing condition under
which the insurance company will not pay out. Understood. However, if I
were to leave the situation, the chimney will likely crash through the
roof one day causing untold damage and cost.

At which point the InsCo could refuse to pay out on the grounds that the
house had not been properly maintained.

IMO they won't pay out now on the grounds that (a) it's maintenance; and
(b) next year you might change insurer so they wouldn't have had to pay
anyway.

--
Tony Bryer SDA UK 'Software to build on' http://www.sda.co.uk

On Oct 27, 2:13 pm, "nonymouse" wrote:
I wish to make a buildings insurance claim for our current
chimney...which apparently needs repointing,

That's maintenance, not an insurance claim.

capping

That's something you do if you've blocked up the fireplaces, again not
a valid reason for an insurance claim.

and the sailing
brick work around the pots rebuilding as it has buckled over the years.

Again, sounds like you/former owner haven't looked after it properly.


I know that there is this thing called a pre-existing condition under
which the insurance company will not pay out. Understood. However, if I
were to leave the situation, the chimney will likely crash through the
roof one day causing untold damage and cost.

So if you know it's not covered, because it was pre-existing, get it
fixed. If it does fall down you wil be looking at a much larger bill
which the insurance co will still not cover. They probably will not
cover the consequential damage caused by a pre-existing condition.


So I would like to make a pre-emptive strike and claim now to fix the
situation. The question is do I

a)
b)

Neither, you get it fixed at your own expense.

MBQ

nonymouse wrote:

Thanks for your advice and honesty. Truth is, we honestly don't know if
the current repairs are necessary due to a previous storm...but it's
only recently that we've noticed it. So there is an element of truth in
what I'm saying. I am not deliberately trying to defraud the insurance
company.

An insurance company would only pay up for this if you could produce a
structural engineer's report stating that the damage was caused by a
storm, or lightning strike, etc. Otherwise natural deterioration of
the pointing over a period of time is what they will term a "gradually
operating cause" - this is something which all insurance policies
specifically exclude.

--
Andy

Andy Wade wrote:
nonymouse wrote:

Thanks for your advice and honesty. Truth is, we honestly don't know if
the current repairs are necessary due to a previous storm...but it's
only recently that we've noticed it. So there is an element of truth in
what I'm saying. I am not deliberately trying to defraud the insurance
company.

An insurance company would only pay up for this if you could produce a
structural engineer's report stating that the damage was caused by a
storm, or lightning strike, etc. Otherwise natural deterioration of
the pointing over a period of time is what they will term a "gradually
operating cause" - this is something which all insurance policies
specifically exclude.


If this were true, they wouldn't have to settle any claims on older
properties which, by definition, are all suffering from gradually
operating causes

If this were true,

It is.

they wouldn't have to settle any claims on older properties
which, by definition, are all suffering from gradually
operating causes

Nonsense.

You can't claim for gradually operating causes, which is effectively code
for "wear and tear", like needing to repaint windows due to weathering, or
needing to renew pointing.

You can claim for non-gradually operating causes, like subsidence, a tree
smashing into the bedroom, a lorry in the lounge, storm damage or flooding.

Christian.

Christian McArdle wrote:
If this were true,

It is.

they wouldn't have to settle any claims on older properties
which, by definition, are all suffering from gradually
operating causes

Nonsense.

You can't claim for gradually operating causes, which is effectively code
for "wear and tear", like needing to repaint windows due to weathering, or
needing to renew pointing.

You can claim for non-gradually operating causes, like subsidence, a tree
smashing into the bedroom, a lorry in the lounge, storm damage or flooding.

Christian.




But storms damage older properties more easily. Slates blow off because
the fixings have gone. Chimneys blow down because they're not as strong
as a modern house. In other words, the root cause is gradual. I've no
doubt the insurance would pay up if his chimney fell through the roof
even though, with hindsight, you could say it was due to neglect.

On 2006-10-27 18:19:03 +0100, Stuart Noble said:

Christian McArdle wrote:
If this were true,

It is.

they wouldn't have to settle any claims on older properties
which, by definition, are all suffering from gradually
operating causes

Nonsense.

You can't claim for gradually operating causes, which is effectively
code for "wear and tear", like needing to repaint windows due to
weathering, or needing to renew pointing.

You can claim for non-gradually operating causes, like subsidence, a
tree smashing into the bedroom, a lorry in the lounge, storm damage or
flooding.

Christian.




But storms damage older properties more easily. Slates blow off because
the fixings have gone. Chimneys blow down because they're not as strong
as a modern house. In other words, the root cause is gradual. I've no
doubt the insurance would pay up if his chimney fell through the roof
even though, with hindsight, you could say it was due to neglect.

This is why they use one of the lowest life forms of all, the loss adjuster.

The principle is that there should not be any betterment of a
pre-existing condition.

nonymouse wrote:

I wish to make a buildings insurance claim for our current
chimney...which apparently needs repointing, capping and the sailing
brick work around the pots rebuilding as it has buckled over the years.


I know that there is this thing called a pre-existing condition under
which the insurance company will not pay out. Understood. However, if I
were to leave the situation, the chimney will likely crash through the
roof one day causing untold damage and cost.

So I would like to make a pre-emptive strike and claim now to fix the
situation. The question is do I

a) Get the work done and submit a bill to the insurance company (since
there is evidence of repointing necessary and this could quite likely
have been caused by high winds)

or

b) Ring the insurance company, explain there has been a bad storm and
as a result the chimney needs repointing (not entirely untrue) and risk
them sending an assessor to check the damage

Help?

pay for your maintenance like a grown up, dont waste the company's
time. This kind of childishness just adds cost onto all our bills.


NT

Andy Hall wrote:
On 2006-10-27 18:19:03 +0100, Stuart Noble
said:

Christian McArdle wrote:
If this were true,

It is.

they wouldn't have to settle any claims on older properties
which, by definition, are all suffering from gradually
operating causes

Nonsense.

You can't claim for gradually operating causes, which is effectively
code for "wear and tear", like needing to repaint windows due to
weathering, or needing to renew pointing.

You can claim for non-gradually operating causes, like subsidence, a
tree smashing into the bedroom, a lorry in the lounge, storm damage
or flooding.

Christian.




But storms damage older properties more easily. Slates blow off
because the fixings have gone. Chimneys blow down because they're not
as strong as a modern house. In other words, the root cause is
gradual. I've no doubt the insurance would pay up if his chimney fell
through the roof even though, with hindsight, you could say it was due
to neglect.

This is why they use one of the lowest life forms of all, the loss
adjuster.

If you get one of those knocking on your door, you need to employ a
rotweiler of your own. No different from solicitors really

The principle is that there should not be any betterment of a
pre-existing condition.

which is fair enough. Fortunately they don't seem to get involved in
smaller claims (under £5K), most of which are settled without argument.