I didn't know who else to ask, advice needed re insurance claim and baby's safety

[Pigsmummy]

I am v upset about this and thought that you might be able to give me advice or have been in a similar situation. I live with my husband, 1 year old son and a cat.

Five weeks ago an incident happened at home, causing water damage, I contacted my insurers (who I use for everything, home, car and pet!) and they advised that I needed to fix the leak and then we would be covered for "restoring the property to how it was before", I did everything, have had several people visit and zero work has taken place.

Anyhow one of the visits was from a drying company who confirmed that the floor would need to be taken up, plaster taken off walls, dehumidifiers, fans and heaters would need to run for upto four weeks (24 hours a day) and our belongings put in storage. Then three plus weeks for new flooring, plastering and decoration. I have asked about alternative accommodation and the loss adjuster who came out a week ago asked me to try to find details of a local short term let (3 months) from local estate agents (there are no holiday let self catering accomadation in the town), which I did and they range from £1350 - £2500 PCM (the cheapest is fine).

Today I am told that alternative accomadation won't be covered due to the fact that we can technically sleep in the property, use the kitchen and down stairs bathroom. This is even though the ground floor will be up, leaving a concrete screed that is damaged, broken up, of sand like quality in place due to water damage. The fact that there will be no furniture downstairs, big loud equipment running and building work, all with baby at home. I haven't the money to pay the rents quoted, I have just returned from maternity leave and savings are depleted, nearest family are hundreds of miles away and I have 4 days annual leave until April. What can I do? Any advice? Cried a lot today on the phone to the insurers.

Sorry post is so long.

Make a massive complaint and threaten them with the press.

1. read through your policy again. What is the exact wording about alternative accommodation?
2. Can you speak to your GP or HV about the potential risks to your DS from the dust/humidity? Will you have the ability to properly wash him/his clothes/yourselves? Will there be an uninterupted supply of hot water? Will the heating work properly throughout.

Then you need to write a letter to the insurers and point out that it is totally unacceptable for them to expect you to camp out in the house during this time, especially as it would be endangering the health of your child over the winter, not to mention leaving you all at very real risk of not having heating.
I'm sure the collective MN mind can help you draft the letter!

When the letter is written (but before you send it) phone them and run through the points on the phone, and then follow up by sending the letter

Heating will be working but the equipment will be throwing up debris and the floor is broken up concrete (due to water damage) The insurance small print refers to kitchen, bathroom and somewhere to sleep, which are technically all in place but how can I live there with my little one? Could I go down the health and safety route? i.e. how can they make the property safe for all of us during the work? Sadly according to the policy terms they are not in breach of their t's&c's.

Will start on a letter and thank you for HV advice, will call them too.

Anyone with a similar experience?

With the exception of the dining room it is all of the ground floor, so yes. Kitchen, living room (with stairs going off it) and bathroom.

How old is your house? We had exactly this situation but on a smaller scale and only moved out for three weeks. The reason they paid for our accommodation was because their was asbestos in the ceiling plaster- not the dangerous type but not ideal with a baby in the house. They agreed when the builders tested it and provided evidence of asbestos being present.

Otherwise I would pester them non stop until they agree, it definitely hurried things along for us.

And write to Margaret Dibben at the Sunday Times or Anna Timms at the Observer. Amazing how a quick call to a company's press office from a journalist can help them find their humanity and decency when the call centre let people down.

Put in a complaint until it is either resolved to your satisfaction or escalate it to the fos (Financial Ombudsman Service) if necessary. Insurance companies do not like complaints going to the fos as they cost them money. I see no reason why you should not be entitled to alternative accommodation as it sounds as though your kitchen will not be usable while the works are carried out. Having somewhere to sleep is one thing but you still need to be able to feed yourself and your family. Your claim has been assigned to a loss adjuster due to the value of it (£1000+) so they should be expecting significant costs such as this.

House built in 1900. Asbestos "likely present" but still expected to live here, hovering above floor and using imaginary furniture! Thank you for advice.

If kitchen and bathroom are not actually going to be usable then you have a point. If it s just going to be noisy and dusty and inconvenient, then I would say not. Lots of people with kids have building work done.

I would insist on an asbestos survey though and if it is present, would insist on temp accomodation while that is being dealt with.

House built in 1900. Asbestos "likely present" but still expected to live here, hovering above floor and using imaginary furniture! Thank you for advice.

Are you with tesco?

financial ombudsman wont do anything until the company have investigated your complaint which they have 8 weeks to do (i believe). they issue a final response then if you're not happy you can take it to FOS

Hermioneweasley with the exception of the dining room my entire ground floor, with access to upstairs (stair case off living room) bathroom and kitchen will be emptied of furniture and floor. Will have equipment running 24/7. I have a 1 year old, crawling and trying to walk. Upstairs is two bedrooms, no bathroom.

LV. Contents, building, car and even cat!

It does sound horrid, but you might have to accept that you'll have to live there if it's covered by their ts and Cs. It is doable afterall, just not very nice. We had building work when dd2 was 6 months, and dd1 was two. We lived in the bedrooms and bathroom, with no kitchen or living room or anything that goes in them. It wasn't nice, far from it,but it was doable. In fact, we got quite used to lying in bed, watching TV, and just reaching out to make a cup if tea from the kettle on the bedside cabinet. Was quite a travesty when once it'd all finished, we actually had to get up for a coffee.

Yes. We had a flood - caused by the water company refusing to come out until we had no water. So what started as a pinhole leak escalated to our kitchen, dinining room and hall flooding. Because we weren't a priority until we had no water. This went on for months.

Eventually the water company did come out - after we'd had no water for 3 days - two months after the initial leak.

We had to pay a plumber for the repairs. The insurers then dealt with the damage.

We had to have fans and humidifiers on 12 hours a day. We started off having them on in the day, but it drove us mad with the noise, so we moved to night time and ear plugs. They tested the ceillings and floor tiles for asbestos and they were found to be negative.

We had the drying company come in and test the walls and floors. In the end the drying process went on for four months. We then got a drying certificate and were able to begin the process of repairing the damage.

Repairing the damage took another 3 months.

We were at no time offered alternative accommodation. We had a lounge, the cooker and fridge were working and the bathroom and bedrooms upstairs were fine. Our youngest was around six so not the same as having a baby. We spent almost a year in the lounge on the sofa, with the dining room table at our knees, covered in the contents of the kitchen. But you know, you get through it...

DD had to learn not to tread on certain bits of the house. But she did and she kept away from the fans which had vents easily bigger than her finger size. We couldn't have any friends round for a very long time though, which was upsetting for her.

I am shocked that the insurers are expecting us to live like this. Seems very wrong

Bolderdash thats awful!! Did you have insurance?

oh I be just remembered something.g which wasn't good but just to prepare you...once they had laid the new screed, I'm sure we had to wait a week or even 2 , for it to dry, before we could put the tiles on. Check that before deciding anything as I'm sure it took longer then 3 Weeks to do the screed, plastering and decorating.

LVs Chief Exec is [email protected]

Send your letter to him.

Hmm. Where are they intending to store all your furniture? Assuming that you will be using the undamaged rooms for living space, where is this (presumably bulky suite, tv's, bookcases....etc) stuff going?

If they're talking about moving items around and doing it in stages, you need to point out that this will drag out the length of the contract and could ultimately cost them more. Coupled with the fact that you have a one year old, who's probably toddling about and getting into stuff, I can't believe that Insurers aren't prepared to cover this.

Assuming that the wording says something like "AA will be provided in the event of the property being uninhabitable", well then you need to point out to the adjuster that due to the circumstances, the property is uninhabitable for your family. If that doesn't work then you'll need to escalate it, like others have said.