Home insurance - storm damage claim?

[StormDamage]

I have never claimed on home insurance so no idea of whether that would be an appropriate route. I have a very old conservatory that was on its last legs but I had no plans to replace in near future.

It has been shaken about in recent winds and is now leaning with structural supports coming apart. Looking quite dangerous.

One company has come out and said it's beyond repair - which was pretty obvious. I can't afford to replace and am getting quotes to have it removed.

However it is, I think, covered by my home insurance. I have no experience but assume that my insurers wouldn't replace a really old conservatory with a new one? I'm not sure that I would feel right or ethical to even attempt to claim, although it is true that had it not been damaged by the winds it would have been ok for another while.

Interested in any thoughts/advice/experience.

Just don't ring them to ask as I did and it got marked as a claim!

Check your policy document to see if it's covered and to see if you can get an idea of what your premiums increase would be.

I wouldn't feel morally against claiming, that's why you pay insurance. I've been paying home insurance for 12 years at this house and have claimed nothing so far, they've had enough of my money to pay for a conservatory so if I needed to claim I would. As long as it wasn't going to have such a huge effect on premiums and excess that it would be cheaper to just pay for the fix myself.

Home insurance usually covers events which are unforseeable.If you have an old, rickety conservatory you know it will be damaged in bad weather so really you have to maintain it to a standard that would protect it from forseeable bad weather events. Sounds as if you did not do this, so I think your insurers will argue that it is not covered. Would be different if it had been well maintained and a hurricane had hit. But the type of storm we have just had is forseeable. In any case, you probably have an excess clause which means you have to pay the first £500 and depending on where you are, removal might not be much more than this.

Be careful about phoning them to ask. As pp have said they record this and will increase your premium.

Would be different if it had been well maintained and a hurricane had hit. But the type of storm we have just had is forseeable.
@Kilimanjaro97 thanks. Is that based on experience?

I think they would pay out for it. We claimed for damage to our roof without anyone even looking at it, we just had to send photos and quotes.

I am with Policy Expert and my flat roof was blown off in Storm Arwen, it was new in 2019.

My claim is settled and I've just gone onto Trust Pilot to leave a review - lots and lots of bad reviews from people whose claims were rejected due to alledged 'lack of maintenance'.

That's a long time @Salome61.

I find the maintenance tricky. My conservatory was old and too hot in summer, too cold in winter and windows stiff. That said it was structurally ok, I was happily ignoring it with the idea that a modern one might be nice in the future. The structural concerns are a direct result of the storm.

I think I'll get it dismantled to be safe and submit claim for that - and maybe take photos, get quotes and submit them and see what they say about replacement. Can't do any harm.

@StormDamage
This is quite difficult. You know it wasn’t great but it depends what you are prepared to blag. DH is blagged in chief and we had a dilapidated shed replacement agreed many years ago. We also had a very dilapidated building burnt down by vandals and that was covered too. The insurers have been far more concerned about the amount of cover we had taken out (more than adequate) and whether our main buildings were well maintained (they were). So the insurance company doesn’t know it was a bit dodgy. If the rest of your house is perfect and your insurance is enough to cover rebuilding your house (no skimping) then put in a claim. If they won’t pay, move companies.

StormDamage I think you should leave it in situ and file your claim but the assessor visit could be slow due to the number of claims in at the moment with Eunice damage. Which storm are you claiming for? The wind speed had to be in excess of 55 mph from memory.

Um!? This storm had 80 mph and in places more! Don’t demolish until the claim is agreed.

You might find this useful StormDamage. The Storm Arwen wind speed recorded at my 'local' weather station was 78 mph.

www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/businesses/complaints-deal/insurance/home-buildings-insurance/storm-damage

Don’t do anything until you’ve spoken to the insurance company. They won’t cover anything unless you’ve had it agreed by the insurance company first.

Oh and in terms of premium increases, we have just claimed in excess of £75k for storm/flood damage last year and our premium rose by about a tenner a month.

You can speak to them but the chances are they will point out a clause that says something along the lines of "must be kept in a good state of repair" and decline it.

They won’t have any idea what condition it was in. They are expecting claims. They will not want to see a disproportionate claim. So not £50,000 on a £200,000 insured house. So have a go because the OP has lost out. We’ve never had a claim refused. Fair claims. But our old shed wasn’t great snd neither was the summerhouse. But we insured them and paid the premium and calculated the rebuild of our buildings accurately so were not under-insured.