Urgent Advice Needed

[ChrissieS79]

My sister and BIL are on hols for 2 weeks and didn't take mobiles and a have said they wouldn't be checking emails Facebook etc.

I've gone round to pick up mail and water plants to find there's a leak in the roof which has come through the upstairs ceiling.

I found their house insurance docs and called explained the situation to be told that only the policy holder can make a claim!

Asked if I was to pay for the repairs now if they could claim back on their return to be told no.

Not sure what to do, and ideas?

Agree with bucket suggestion. Do the minimum then if they complained tell them you hunted for insurance documents, called insurance, tried to get hold of them but no joy. Don't do any more they wanted to go off grid this is the consequence

I would be absolutely furious if someone pretended to be me and started an insurance claim. What if they have a large excess or don't want increased fees in future?

When my father died and he had a big leak into his house we put a bucket under it, all the obvious stuff.

(In fact in his case as we were executors I got a company in ASAP to repair the roof - it had dripped down and then broken the ceiling in the hall below too and the attic room ceiling. you could also put plastic stuck across the bit of the roof with the leak

Perhaps turn on their heating too so the house is not going to get very damp.

if they want to do this they need to give you power of attorney for the time they are away so in effect you are them and can send it to insurance co and organise things

It's advisable to turn off the electric as any leak could get into light sockets and be dangerous, so no heating either.

If their insurance policy has an excess and for that excess you can organise a roofer to make the roof waterproof until it can be properly repaired, maybe you can pay for that as it won't be covered by insurance anyway?

I'm not sure you would need to turn all the electrics off, just the upstairs circuits for now. If it gets worse turn it all off but I wouldn't want to defrost their freezer unnecessarily.

How stupid of the insurance company as well - surely if it's left for two weeks it will be more damaged and thus more expensive to repair!

We don't contact people on holiday either, I had to tell my mother that her sister had died but die was in holiday so I waited until she came home and met her at the airport. Being uncontactable on holiday is fine.

Just get someone in to do a temporary fix & make-safe. And then leave it to them to decide from there. It's only two weeks.

Meh I have to be honest and say I'd go bonkers if someone impersonated being me to an insurance company, especially without even checking with me first that I was okay with it. Some jobs are cheaper to do yourself rather than pay excess and have increased premiums anyway.

Can't believe how many people think it's irresponsible to be uncontactable for two weeks. I never give people detail of my flights or hotels, and my phone goes off and in the safe for the duration of the holiday. There's nothing you can do while you're away anyway.
Just turn the water off and stick a bucket under it.

I'd be so angry if someone contacted my insurance company without my consent. Just minimise the chance of further damage and await their return. It's probably some loose / missing slates.

To everyone saying 'turn the water off' - OP has stated that it's rain leaking in. How is she supposed to turn off rain?

Can you temporarily patch the roof with a tarpaulin?

If not I would use a bucket and switch off the electrics.

Dobigetta but there is something they could do. They could phone the insurance company and arrange for someone to fix it to stop further damage occurring. It would only take 5 minutes out of their holiday and could save them a fortune.

I can understand not being contactable from work, but from family? No.
In the olden days before internet/mobiles etc, we always left travel and hotel details and even photocopies of passports with someone in the family.

In this case OP I agree with others - get a roofer in to make a temporary repair if possible to avoid more water leaking in.

Dont ring the insurance company again. Ring a roofer and see if they can do a temporary fix for under £200 or so and will they be happy for the bill to be paid when the homeowners get back.

Can't believe how many people think it's irresponsible to be uncontactable for two weeks. There's nothing you can do while you're away anyway.

It's irresponsible if you leave other people in charge of your house/plants/pets/kids etc and leave no way of getting hold of you in an emergency, even if it's only to say "XYZ happened, we've done ABC but wanted to let you know". If you didn't give a damn about them then you wouldn't ask people to look after them while you're away, but if you do then surely you care enough to want to know if something happens to them? If I go away for a couple of weeks my parents will drop in and check on the house, for the express purpose of making sure everything is alright, from making sure I've not been broken into, to securing the mail all the way through to noticing if my roof is about to cave in from a leak.

Also there's plenty of things they could do from holiday! A phone call to give the OP their blessing to take whatever action is needed to make their house safe and waterproof; or to tell them to get quotes and then call their insurance as them (with their permission) and depending on either get it repaired or use the insurance; or to call their insurance for themselves; or to give the OP a budget and ask them to find them a quote/someone to do the job within that budget and they'd transfer the money over if they weren't going to be back before payment would be needed.

I wouldn't do anything other than stick a bucket under it. OP could spend money and find it doesn't get repaid.

If they want to be off grid then they are willing to take the chance that something like this will happen and they won't know about it.

FWIW my XS is £350 so good luck getting a roofer out to do an emergency repair/patch job for less than that. The benefit of starting g a claim is that you agree to pay the XS and then they do the emergency repair too.

I once thought I could get work done myself as it would be cheaper than a claim. DH did the classic of falling through the ceiling from the loft. A small hole that needed plastering. It cost£200. Then the cost of repainting the whole ceiling. Plus cost of materials. The ceiling was partly above staircase and meant special long brushes etc. Quoted £250 inc paint. Wish I'd gone through insurers and that was something that looked small.