My Water Leak and the Insurance Companies.

Hi

I had my water leak from the bathroom on December 11th last year.

There are only 7 houses in the development and I am the fourth one to have this problem, albeit worse than most.

Because the house is fairly new there was an argument between the NHBC and my house insurers as to who was going to pay.

I have had no less than 12 different visits from various people about this, it has been a nightmare, even though I am well used to dealing with big outfits.

After having an Insurance Assessor as they call it, basically a Loss Adjuster, work is due to start in the next two weeks.

They found three leaks in the bathroom plumbing and actually tried to charge me for the excess of £500 for each leak, claiming it was three separate claims.

I was able to prove that only one leak was the cause, the other two being due to the floor warping and lifting.

I should add at this point that I have had no upstairs heating or hot water , other than from an immersion heater, since December.

This has cost me a mint in electricity costs, as I have been unable to use the upstairs underfloor heating and hot water system since December.

This is because I have an ECO House, with a heat pump in the garden which provides all the heating and hot water.

The cost of the works is estimated at £16,000, mainly due to the fact that the entire floor, which is a cassette floor, has to come up and be replaced,along with the bathroom tiling to both the floor and the walls and works to the walls and ceiling in the garage.

It is going to take some time to do as well.

I am fed up with the whole thing and the Insurance Company in particular, which is Sainsbury's.

My house sale could not take place because of the mess and delays and so I will have to go through all that again.

The house I wanted has been sold, so I will have to find another one.

It all could not have happened as a worse time.

Re: My Water Leak and the Insurance Companies.

Get your bills and calculate the difference between these and bills for the same period last year.

Throw them at the insurance company.

Good luck with the repairs.

Re: My Water Leak and the Insurance Companies.

What a nightmare Gibbs what cause the leak was it a joint in the pipework.
I am interested as my son is installing a ground source heat pump in his new house.

I guess you now have to wait for someone to repair it , I hope you can get it done over the summer.

Re: My Water Leak and the Insurance Companies.

Hi

Meg, the problem was caused by a leaking waste pipe, the underfloor heating from the heat pump was fine, mine is air source, not ground source.

The heating and hot water had to be turned off initially because the water got into the electronics controlling the system.

The floor then became so badly warped that I was advised not to use the system upstairs as the heating pipes could have been damaged, they won't know if they are until the floor is taken up.

They will have to disconnected them all to replace the floor anyway.

Re: My Water Leak and the Insurance Companies.

What an inconvenience Gibbs and sooo frustrating for you having to take the house off the market and the hassle of having builders in .
I hope the problems are resolved without causing you too much stress .

Re: My Water Leak and the Insurance Companies.

Good thinking Terry

Re: My Water Leak and the Insurance Companies.

Ian I am so sorry to hear that you are still dealing with this problem when it could have been sorted before you had to return to work. If the work is extensive and they will be taking up your floors, I would be tempted to ask if they are going to provide alternative accommodation while the work is done. The stress of the damage is difficult to cope with, but I know you have also had the stress of getting somebody to accept responsibility for it.
Also this would be a good time to sell your house, but if it drags on till the winter there could be less potential buyers. If 4 out of 7 houses have had the same problem, I would suspect a design fault and I would be pressing them for some compensation, following the difficulties it has caused.
Good luck.

Re: My Water Leak and the Insurance Companies.

What an absolute nightmare !! There has to be a common fault with the build, surely, if you're the 4th to have a problem.
The insurance companies never seem to realise there's a human being stuck in the middle of it all when they're busy quibbling about who's responsible for what!
I hope you get satisfaction soon and can then up sticks, move and forget it all. Only ever had a new house once and vowed 'never again'. So many teething troubles..

Re: My Water Leak and the Insurance Companies.

Hi

Just heard that they are starting work on the 3rd May, they are planning to get it done in two weeks.

The problem is that I am away for part of that time, leaving before they start, so no chance of supervising it.

I have a local teenager coming in to feed my fish and corals and top up the tank daily, she is very good, but I can hardly expect her to sort any problems out.

The electric will be off for some of the time, so I have told them they will need a generator to run my aquarium

I don't fancy arriving back to find over a £1000 worth of fish and corals dead or dying.

My carpets are white, a legacy of the Ex and am dreading the mess.

The garage is directly underneath the bathroom and is stuffed full, amongst other things it has 57 fishing rods in it and a couple of poles, one of which cost £2750 and a massive aquarium, the glass alone weighs 330 Kilos.

They have to empty the garage to get the work done.

Thanks for all your support, always an optimist, at least the stress will help me lose weight.

Re: My Water Leak and the Insurance Companies.

Don't talk to me about Insurance companies Swimmy, I've had a bloomin' claim rumbling on for the last 5 & half years and it's still not solved.

Had to ask the Ombudsman for his help now.