OMG, moved in a month ago and roof blew out in the storm today

[Primafacie]

:( just need some commiserations really. Got a call today from our nanny saying roof and windows were leaking everywhere. Came home to a horror sight - water trickling down from the loft conversion into the children's bedrooms, staircase, you name it. The felt on the roof, aerial and parts of the fence ripped out by the storm. We called our insurance company, they have logged our call, now it is a waiting game. It doesn't help that today was my first day back at work following maternity leave, I can hardly take time off now. Boo hoo. We were having builders come in next week to do built in furniture, we will now probably have to wait until the roof is secured and everything is dry, which will take weeks.
All of you who are desperate to sell and move out, I hope my woes show you the silver lining :)
We are in SW London by the way.
I really did not see this coming.

• blew off even

Oh that's awful, you poor things

Thanks, I feel a bit shell shocked! Not emotional, just stunned by the magnitude of the damage.

You poor things. Hope the insurance company get onto it and you can get sorted asap.

ask the insurance co to give you a roofer from their approved list, who they will pay and agree a price with, and say you need temporary sheeting because the damage is increasing due to water continuing to get in.

only get your own roofer if you know for a fact that he is reliable, does a good job, will not overcharge, and is at least acceptable to the insurance co, as they will not accept responsibility for anyone you find yourself.

Thanks Piglet, the insurer has approved temporary sheeting by our own roofer at the price he quoted. The scaffolding is going up tomorrow, I am keeping fingers crossed that the weather holds until then. A loss adjustor has been appointed to deal with the permanent repairs.

I really dislike dealing with insurers, I am always worried they will find a reason to deny coverage before sending us a cheque... but we have no choice, I need to put a roof over our heads!

What an awful situation. Sounds like you and the insurers have it under control, but that is no consolation. I hope it gets sorted quickly for you.

not Merlin I hope?

I don't know, they have only given us the guy's name. We'll see when we meet him next week.

What's wrong with Merlin? They dealt with my brothers fire, thought they were ok, if a bit slow.

you were luckier than me if they were only a bit slow

when I complained to the insurance co, their complaints officer said he had called for information and expected to reply with 24 hours

After a few days he apologised and said he had not been able to get the information.

It took weeks

Yeah, Merlin have a pretty bad reputation (ranked lowest by insurers in a recent industry survey), but as with everything it is the individual person you are dealing with that matters. Frankly I can't bear to worry about that now, we are still waiting for the scaffolding to go up and the emergency repairs to take place - hopefully tomorrow - so we'll cross the loss adjusting bridge when we get there. Meanwhile the walls are cracking everywhere, there is a bad "wet wall" smell in the loft and I wake up at every gush of wind.

This isn't fun.

Didn't realise they had such a bad reputation. Never had to deal with insurers before but they did pay for everything and didn't really haggle when I kept sending them bills. (was mothers not brothers fire).

They replaced her whole kitchen when the fire damage was only in the lounge.
So I suppose I was impressed overall, it only went slow when the person I was dealing with left.

Poor you primaface hope it gets sorted quickly.