Heave/ subsidence/ insurance advice please

[lou4791]

When we moved into our victorian terrace house 5 years ago, the survey picked up some heave/ raised area to the kitchen floor. An insurance claim was made by the previous owners and £1000 excess paid by them. The problem was found to likely originate from the drains and some works were carried out, and the problem considered solved. We have stayed with the same insurance company.

Recently I have been wondering if the raised area of the kitchen floor has been getting worse, but it's so difficult to tell as any differences would be very subtle. But last night I noticed a crack running up and along the top of the kitchen door that I have not seen before. This confirmed to me that there is likely an ongoing problem and the works carried out 5 years ago never properly solved.

I've called my insurance company today who have advised me to call out a surveyor myself to assess the problem prior to making an official claim.
I'm so scared that this may not be covered for some reason.
Will any local surveyor be appropriate to call? Do I have to pay the surveyor up front before claiming? Is there anything I need to know about do's and don'ts of larger insurance claims? Could this claim be a continuation of the previous one 5 years ago and the excess waived, as i'm convinced it's the same problem that was never properly solved?

I'm really lost on this. Any advice very welcome.

[LapOfTheGods]

I would have thought te insurance company would offer for one of their surveyors to visit. I'd call them back and ask.

[lou4791]

That's what i thought too, but they said it would be better for me if I got my own surveyor to assess the cause to see if it's something that's covered in my policy or not. Surely anything causing a deep crack in the wall around a door frame should be covered anyway? Their point of view is that, if it's not covered, a formal claim would not have been placed that would affect my future premiums.
Worried i'm in danger of being taken for a ride by the insurance company.

[Bunbaker]

When we had some cracks in our house that we thought were caused by subsidence we contacted our buildings contents insurance company. They sent out a surveyor who measured the cracks over quite a long period (two years I think) before they decided that the cracks weren't getting any bigger (thank goodness). They made some suggestions about getting rid of some trees near the house, but other than that everything was fine. So either way, you need to get a surveyor in to keep a record of the movement.

[minipie]

If there has already been a claim for subsidence made by previous owners then your premiums will already be affected I'd have thought. Future claims for the same thing shouldn't make your premiums even worse.

It's different if there has never been a subsidence related claim - if that was the case then I'd say do your own investigations before telling the insurer, as you don't want to get into the subsidence category if you can help it. But sounds like you are already in that category anyway.

If you're sure the previous claim was for subsidence then I'd get on with contacting the insurer and asking them to send a surveyor round.

I don't know about the excess though. We still have an excess for subsidence claims even though the previous owners of our house made a claim (and presumably paid an excess at the time). So I don't think you can necessarily say "it's already been paid once so not again". But I guess you could make that argument if you can show that the previous work/diagnosis wasn't done properly.

[lou4791]

Thanks for the replies. Guess i'll get back onto the insurance company and ask them to send their own surveyor.