Home insurance legal cover

[dick27]

I went to my insurance co after getting a legal letter from my (off the charts horrific) neighbours (insurance instructed) solicitor. The letter is full of untruths but importantly (for insurance purposes) lays claim to access a portion of my land where they do not have access (as per the very clear on this deeds). I went to my insurance co to defend my rights and rebut/refute this claim. I am getting nowhere. They came back with a total misunderstanding of the issues. I went back with these misunderstandings. They have come back again, not answering my Qs and introducing more reasons they say I am not covered. I have added in exact wording from my policy and why I think I am, which they have not responded to. An initial panel assessment said I was covered. I am utterly lost.

I'm afraid when I tried to use the legal cover I had as part of my home insurance I found the quality of the response very poor. I got through to an office which sounded like a sixth form common room, and the 'lawyer' I spoke to seemed to have a very poor grasp of the basic issues. You may have to go to a proper solicitor I'm afraid!

If you are not satisfied with the refusal to cover you need to follow the insurer’s complaints procedure and then escalate to the ombudsman if necessary.

If you can post the wording of the part of the policy that says what the legal expenses insurance covers I might be able to comment (I’m an insurance lawyer).

This is the relevant part I think 'Protecting property from damage
Professional fees to:

1. take or defend legal action relating to a legal nuisance; or
2. take or defend legal action relating to a legal trespass to your home.

Watching with interest as I have exactly the same problem at the moment and it's keeping me awake at night. Damage to my property has happened by a neighbour but I can't repair or even cost it until I remove the trespass which might make me liable for damage myself. Insurance say the trespass part isn't covered only damages. Without being a lawyer how can we argue with the insurers? It's very stressful.

Legal trespass is in bold which means it is a defined term. There will be a list somewhere in the policy which states the meaning of all the defined terms. What does it say?

Legal trespass
The unlawful occupation of your home or any part of it without your permission.

Did you give up and go to a solicitor direct?

Inordinately stressful - and makes you wonder what the sodding point of said legal cover is

What's their definition of your home? Does it cover the area that they're trespassing on?

Home
Your main private home, at the address shown in your schedule.
And yep

OK. Without having any detail on the background, from what you say there seems to be a good argument that this dispute is covered.

You need to point them to the wording and ask them to explain why they do not consider the dispute to be covered. Ask for their complaints policy and follow the procedure.

Good luck!

I claimed once and realised very quickly it was an unqualified legal “advisor” I was dealing with, not a solicitor. They had a poor grasp of what had happened and, indeed, law. I wouldn’t bother again or maybe you should escalate yours and complain.

I think that would be a breach of the obligation to provide “legal advice” and could be escalated, yes.

Thank you. I did this in my last reply, which merely resulted in a reply which did NOT address the issues. I will try again, and include again a request for next steps/complaints process.

Update - fuck all update really, it continues to be like wading through treacle, plus my requests for the complaints procedure have been ignored.
And I'm still getting hounded by a nasty bastard solicitor with untruths and I'm wary of attempting to defend myself, but I might have to.

Update - finally got them to get it, and defend me.

Yay, great news!