House fire loss assessment advice - no insurance - complaint in progress

[Trickytroggle2]

We had a house fire recently, then realised we had no insurance as it had been cancelled. We are complaining and asking for our insurance to be reinstated but, of course, don't yet know if that will be successful, and in any case it will likely take a long time.

In the meantime we need to clear the house for repair works. So we need to work out what to do with all the stuff in the house - a lot of it is rubbish due to either the fire or smoke damage but not sure what to keep for a potential claim and what we could throw and how to document.

Does anyone have any experience of this situation and are able to say how they handled it? e.g. is there a minimum value for 'listing/claiming' things. Whether we can throw things away (some stuff is going mouldy :-( )? How to document what we do throw away?

Or - we've recently found out about loss assessors. so thinking they might be able to advise what might be best to do for now? Does anyone have any recommendations? We are Warwickshire/Northamptonshire area.

Many thanks in advance.

Why was the Insurance cancelled? Normally you leave everything as it is until the loss adjusters visit.

Who cancelled the insurance?

@purplecorkheart and @fromaytobe Thanks for your replies.
@purplecorkheart can imagine this is how it normally is. We have had no choice but to start work on the house, as it was structurally damaged. As we have no insurance currently, feel like we need to get on with things to minimise our costs in the long term (as we are in rental) and we may need to sell anyway so need to hit the market at the right time. Hence needing advice on if we can go about this another way - e.g. document what was there? Get an assessment in case we can use it later?

@fromaytobe The insurer, but we didn't realise. It's complicated - don't really want to detract from questions in my original post though.

If you’re in correspondence with the insurance company contact them and say that you’re now at the stage where conditions on site are deteriorating and you must progress works to protect the remaining fabric of the building or contents. Offer them or their representatives the opportunity to inspect before the clearing process begins on x date.

Even if they decline this offer take photos of everything. Make a list, room by room, of damaged items. I like to use an excel spreadsheet and then note on each item as much information as possible, including whether or not proof of purchase is available and a monetary value for the purposes of valuing any contents claim. In addition to photos I would also consider taking a video of the damage to the building, walking slowly through. You may also wish to get a copy of the fire report from the fire brigade if you don’t have one already, might speed things up later if they do end up reconsidering.

It wouldn’t do any harm to chat to a loss assessor but I’m not sure how keen they would be to get involved if there’s a questionmark over cover. It will very much depend on the circumstances surrounding the cancellation of your policy and whether they think the insurance company will realistically reinstate your cover.

@Trickytroggle2 I have no advice but just wanted to say that I'm so sorry you're in this situation. It must be very stressful.

Why would there be loss adjusters visiting if there isnt a claim (and from the insurers perspective, there wont be a claim because there was no insurance)

I'd take a common sense approach and photograph literally everything as prove if you need it in the future

Not sure what else you could do with no insurance

The only advice I can offer is take lots of photos of everything, and list everything in detail. Eg don’t list a toaster as ‘toaster, white’, but list it as it is eg toaster, white, four adjustable slots with keep warm feature. As the the former may result in a £10 claim whilst the fuller description may result in a £25 claim.

But as you had no insurance it might be a wasted effort. Hope I’m very wrong and you can find a way forward from this.

As others have said, some services are arranged by insurers so if you have no insurance I'm not sure how you would access them.
Do you have a date for when the insurance situation will be concluded?
Why did they cancel?

And how come you didn't know they had cancelled. Did they fail to notify you? This would surely be some sort of breach.

The insurance company are going to do everything they can to not pay out. Was it a case of not renewing at the end of the term?
If you think there is a slim chance they'll pay out, as others have said take lots of pictures and good descriptions of what needs replacing. But insurance are bad at paying out at the best of times, so be prepared.

I think you're onto a hiding to nothing.

Insurers will do anything to avoid playing if you have a valid insurance in place, so I think you will be incredibly lucky if you get anything from them.

I think your only hope would be if it was cancelled by them for a reason they are legally not allowed to - and I don't know if there is any such reason. Even if they didn't inform you, you may be able to claim a little compensation, but it's more likely to be in the £100 region as compensation for not telling you than anything like what you need.

Yes, make notes, and especially photos, but be prepared for nothing to come of it.

If you have no insurance, you have no cover. It's that simple.

Why was the insurance cancelled and on what grounds?

I don't think you'll get anywhere with your complaint, unfortunately.

I think your best bet is to contact a loss assessment company and ask their advice.

This is absolutely not true!

If you have a valid policy and your claim is valid all reputable insurers will pay your claim.

I have had claims paid in full by my pet insurer, my car insurer, house and travel (over a period of years obviously), As long as you have told the truth when taking out the cover and the claim is valid your insurer will pay. And if any one has concerns about how a claim is handled you can raise a complaint (as the op has) and if you are still not happy you can escalate to the insurance ombudsman.

What's not true? A cancelled policy is not a valid one.
Your claims that were met were presumably covered by an actual live policy.

The previous poster said that insurance companies will do anything to avoid paying valid claims - that is what I was replying to.