Home insurance advice worried sick

[Upsidedownroundandround]

So to cut a long story short , renewed home insurance July this year as premiums on previous we too high. We have since now got a pipe leaking through our kitchen ceiling so have contacted home insurance as it's becoming quite distressing. They have sent emergency people out who have tested the ceiling to see if it's safe to take down to find this leak.
Any way to cut a long story short have been contacted by insurance to say we didn't declare previous claim from last year !? We had asked advice about our porch as a neighbour noted the glass had slipped and looked like we had movement in the porch as there was cracking (only lived here 3 years ) so insurance sent a surveyor out and resulted in them saying no claim will be made as it's clearly an old issue and why would we want to claim ? ( We just wanted to know if it was something we were covered for as panicked out porch was going to fall down ) Now I'm worried sick they will cancel this policy and we are left with an ongoing leak. I have explained I genuinely didn't think that it was a claim as they hadn't actually done anything about it ? And said they weren't going to ? Advice please 🥺

Regardless of the insurance issue which I’m sure will be resolved, a leaky pipe in the ceiling isn’t really a major job and a local plumber/ handyman can easily cut into the ceiling, find the leak (most likely a heating pipe) and get it sorted quickly. Its not a big job to then patch up.

Also, are they testing the ceiling because its artex and possibly asbestos? Its a very simple job to order a test kit yourself and even if it is asbestos its not dangerous to cut a hole if wearing the correct mask.

Yes they are testing for aspestos , im more worried they think to trying to commit fraud which I most certainly am not , 2 women on our own and I've no idea what I'm doing I've never had a leak in my life , infact last year was the first time ever we have contacted home insurance in over 30 years because the window man says our porch was falling. Away from the house and we panicked .

They will have counted your contact last year as a claim, even though you didn't get any work done.
I had a similar incident. When DS was a toddler he turned off the freezer resulting in a freezer full of ruined food. I contacted the insurer who wanted receipts of all the food which of course I didn't have. I didn't bother pursuing it but found out later that they counted it as a claim.

you need to look at the wording of whatever you were asked at the time you took out insurance. And then see if they have a definition for ‘claim’.