Insurance claim - help (subsidence)

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We've made an insurance claim for subsidence which is taking forever to be solved (generally feel the insurance company has dealt with the claim poorly). And I just wondered if anyone had advice for insurance claims in general and subsidence.

So they identified a tree as causing the cracks / sinkage, this was removed but no ongoing monitoring - so we can't see if the cracks are progressing / getting worse.

We've now had a schedule of works through but with no costing - also these all seem to be cosmetic/patching up the cracks. Should there not be more of a 'fix'?

Finally they said we can get our own contractors but haven't told us how much they will give us or any info on this. How should this work in practice?

No experience of claiming on insurance before so not sure what we should be pushing for!

We had subsidence due to a leaking drain; this was fixed promptly but the rest of the work dragged on for about four years (not helped by covid times).

Once the cause of the subsidence is addressed, they don't tend to "fix" anything these days. Maybe just pin a few cracks to strengthen that particular area.

But I would strongly argue that they do need to monitor the cracks for a year to make sure there is no further movement before they do the cosmetic work. You don't want the disruption of having it done twice over.

Definitely let them fix it, don't take a cash settlement for your own builders as then you'll have less come-back if the problem recurs. If the insurance company arranged the repairs and it doesn't work, then it's all on them.

Maybe you should get some advice from a surveyor or engineer, or appoint your own loss assessor to deal with the insurance company for you? There is also an insurance ombudsman if you're not happy with the settlement.

Good luck; and don't expect any of this to be resolved quickly. It's a horrible thing, the stress of which almost broke our marriage.

I’ve been going through this for the past 4 years. I’m not the home owner but have been involved at every stage. They removed quite a lot of foliage near the house, ivy and small trees etc. Then monitored until the building settled. So I would ask for monitoring to check your has or at least ask them why they aren’t doing that. I’m waiting for a surveyor to come, I will get some windows and a door replaced as the frame is askew but the rest will be patching up and decorating. The loss adjusters have appointed another company to do the survey and carry out the repairs. I also understand they don’t do anything more structural unless the building needs underpinning, which is very expensive and disruptive. A friend of mine had a similar experience, quite large cracks inside the house but they only removed a tree, monitored, filled cracks and decorated. Her place has been fine. I do sympathise with you because getting information about what is going on has been extremely frustrating. My best advice is prepare a list of questions and ring them up to try and get some answers.

You could get a lose assessor who works for you to oversee.

Thank you all for the advice - the lack of information they give you is frustrating and I can't help thinking that are trying to cut corners at every opportunity (initially they said it wasn't subsidence - I wish that was the case but we had already paid for a surveyor before involving insurers!).

Will look into loss assessor - hadn't thought about that. And will definitely let them do the work.

Sorry @ChristieEve that you had a similar problem. I am stressed at every crack that appears as ultimately we would like to sell eventually - but we are stuck here for the next few years! Has your house stopped moving now?