Plugging the gap in your cover

By EDMUND TIRBUTT
Updated:

 

Floods recede as quickly as they rise, but the ordeal for victims can go on for months as their homes dry out. Restoration work under buildings insurance is likely to begin with a visit from a specialist drying company appointed by the insurer or loss adjuster dealing with a claim.

Tom Heward, managing director of customer services at national loss adjuster McLarens Toplis, says: 'The buildings must be dried slowly and thoroughly, and at this time of year it could easily take three or four months because we don't have high temperatures to assist drying.

'Flooding takes longer to sort out in physical terms than storm damage, especially if water has been contaminated by sewage or petrol.

'People become frustrated over the time it takes. However, timbers have to be dried properly to prevent dry rot in the future and walls cannot be repaired when they are damp because the new plaster would fall off.' At least those with buildings insurance, usually held by most homeowners at the insistence of mortgage providers, will not have to arrange or pay for drying and redecorating of the main structure of the home, its fixtures and fittings and its outbuildings.

Insurers should organise and pay for these services and will also normally pay for alternative accommodation.

But many other items vulnerable to flooding such as carpets, furniture, electrical equipment and personal possessions are covered under contents insurance.

The better contents policies also pay for alternative accommodation up to about 20% of policyholders' cover limit if they do not also have buildings insurance. These policies are particularly attractive to tenants for whom buildings cover is the responsibility of their landlords.

But mortgage lenders do not usually insist on contents insurance and about one in four homes do not have it. Many, unfortunately, will be among the flood victims. As a result, they are likely to be thousands of pounds out of pocket.

Homeowners with buildings and contents cover have little to fear from the elements in financial terms, though there could still be a gap in their cover.

Both types of policy normally cover storm damage and flooding, but heavy rain that falls independently of a storm and causes damage after penetrating a roof can cause a dispute.

Linda Williams, director of JCH Insurance Brokers in Wirral, Merseyside, says: 'Insurers often relax their criteria when they get a lot of heavy rain without storms because they don't want bad publicity. But they are less likely to pay for isolated incidents involving only a few houses.

'The surest way of guarding against this problem is to take out accidental damage extensions on a policy. This option typically costs up to 10% of the premium on buildings policies and up to 20% on contents policies.'

Even policies with accidental damage extensions will not pay for water damage if a roof is considered to have been poorly maintained. What is considered to be poor maintenance will vary from case to case, but the Association of British Insurers advises having roofs checked annually in September.

As a fireman, 36-year-old Toby Simmonds is no stranger to catastrophes and has contents as well as buildings insurance on his family home.

The two policies with Eagle Star cost him a total of £19.31 a month but after making a £2,979 contents claim for flood damage last month, he and wife Sue are not complaining. A huge downpour flooded the conservatory at their three-bedroom terraced home in Portsmouth and the garage that four-year-old daughter Rebecca uses as a playroom.

No buildings claim was necessary, but a large number of contents, ranging from carpets and heating equipment to Rebecca's blackboard and bicycle, were destroyed. Because of the diverse range of items involved, a loss adjuster appointed by Eagle Star agreed to settle in cash rather than by replacing them in kind through preferred suppliers.

Toby says: 'Paying for this lot without insurance would have taken a long time on my wages. It would have been awful if we hadn't been able to replace most of Rebecca's toys immediately. She is still upset at losing her bike even though I've bought her a bigger one.'

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