Council tree causing subsidence

[WittySnake]

Hi I’m helping an elderly relative who has a house she owns with a council owned tree on the pavement outside which - according to her insurers (Aviva) - is causing subsidence in part of her property.
The claims handling side of things has been outsourced and every time I email a different person replies. They have done monitoring etc and have threatened legal proceedings against the Council who are just ignoring their letters. Has anyone had experience of similar and can help give me ideas as to how to convince insurers/claims handlers to not just make empty threats to the council?. My relative feels they are just dragging their feet until she’s no longer around and it’s stressing her so much.
Sorry for posting in aibu but doing so for maximum exposure.
Thanks

It might be worth contacting the local Parish or Town Council and asking them if they can contact their contacts. Then contact the district Councillor for the area and get them in the know and ask them to help. And then........contact the County Councillor and advise them. And hopefully between them all they can get the right department to at least look into it.

Try approaching your local MP and asking them for help as the local council is involved.

Unfortunately, we too have experienced these sort of delays with Aviva, but that was over a vehicle claim. We ended up going to the insurance ombudsman, which again unfortunately is a dragged out process, but you really do have to get Aviva to do their job, after all that's what your relative is paying for.

Don't bother with Town/Parish councillors, they have no power. Go straight to Borough/unitary/county councillors depending on where you live.

You say that - But I said to ask them to contact their contacts. The Clerk will know. As they know who is who at the relevant council responsible with county for local Highways situation or District if not. And which person this should go to.

Many metres of the pavement on my road are so distorted with mature tree roots that you can't walk on them. My neighbour complains so much she is on first name terms with most of the council staff and she is also part of every neighbourhood group going. Nothing has changed in 10 years.

I understand that the council really wants to deal with it but, with very limited funds, it is a fair way down a their to do list - although it is on it. They have to prioritise as local government funds have been strangled for many years.

Has your relative made a claim, op?

Subsidence claims can be caused by a number of different things. Have Aviva definitely confirmed that the tree is the cause? Has a structural engineer been to the property to carry out a survey? That should be the priority / to ascertain the cause and then carry out any remedial works required. The fact that the tree is council owned isn't particularly relevant when it comes to getting the main issue resolved, and the council are unlikely to speak to you directly about the issue as you are neither the claimant nor the insurer. If the tree is the cause and the surveyor identified that in their report, then the insurers will contact the council informing them of this and request the tree be removed - if the council refuse, then they're liable and the claims costs would be on them and the insurer would pursue that.
I would:

• call the insurer and request that they note on your relatives file that you are assisting her
• keep notes of every call and email to the insurer
• find out if or when the subsidence damage has been assessed, ask what the next steps are and get them to agree a timescale.
• not bother contacting the council.

I am a Town councillor for the town I live in and Borough for the next ward over. If someone comes to me in my town with a Borough level issue, I am not allowed to pass them direct to the responsible council officer at Borough level, I have to pass it through a Borough councillor for my town.
As all councillors and the areas they cover are listed on the council websites, isn't hard information to find and will cut out an unnecessary step.

Thank you all.
My relative has made a claim and it has been accepted. Structural surveys have been done - and all the various reports including water monitoring say the tree is the cause. The claims managers have written aggressive letters of claim to the Council - who just don’t reply. And now the claims people say they can’t actually bring a claim to compel the Council to remove the tree - to my mind they can but they just don’t want to spend the money to pursue the action. They are taking about underpinning the house instead and then claiming against the Council if in time subsidence happens again! - whereas all their correspondence says nothing will help except the removal of the tree. It’s v hard for an elderly person to cope with.
They know I’m involved and are corresponding with me

OP, if the insurance company are prepared to go ahead and authorise underpinning, then you should be fine, because the insurance company are, I believe, obliged to continue cover for your relative, after the work is done, as they will have guarantees for it. So it's not like he/she won't be able to insure after this claim. I say this as an ex-estate agent, who dealt with many cases where property was sold after suffering subsidence, and we always found that the insurer who had paid for the underpinning, was willing to continue cover on the property. Hope this, together with some of the other advice you've been given, helps. However, I do think your relative may have a claim against the Council for the insurance 'excess' that they will have to pay, as it would appear that the Council owned tree is responsible for the damage. I'd try getting advice from Citizen's Advice on this side of things.

Thank you all for ideas.
Do you know how easy the property would be to sell after underpinning though as she may at some stage need to move for care? I would think it would be so much more effective, cheaper and simpler to compel the Council to remove the tree to stop the damage happening.

As long as you check with the insurance company, that they will be happy to continue to cover the property after the underpinning is done, you shouldn't have any real trouble selling. In the area where I used to work as an estate agent, there were a lot of problems with subsidence, so we used to have to deal with it a lot, and once people found that insurance was still available, they rarely had a problem with it.

Also, as I suggested previously, it may well be worth contacting your local MP about this. I know a lot of people are reluctant to do this, as they kind of think 'what has politics got to do with stuff like that', BUT, the first time I ever had cause to contact my local MP, he was absolutely brilliant, and extremely helpful, so if you tell yours, that the lady who lives there is elderly, and extremely worried about it, (lay it on really thick), they may well feel obliged to put some pressure on the Council to sort it out.