Home Insurance Legal Cover
Posted: December 21st, 2023, 11:08 am
I am completely new to claiming on a home insurance policy. Please don't shoot me down in flames over this if I've done it all wrong -
In 2021/2022 I had an architect design a front extension to my home. Planning permission and building regs were obtained.
October 2022: Building work started.
February 2023: Work finished. I do not have a problem with the quality of the work.
But after they had finished and the dust had settled, I realised that the builders had not followed the plans accurately.
I really did not want to get the builder back and have an argument with him.
Anyway, the entire thing kept on bugging me. In the end I decided that I either have to let it go or do something about it so I contacted my home insurance provider – with whom I have Legal Cover - for advice.
August: I rang the insurance company 'Legal Helpline' three times during August and spoke to different people - and received very differing information. Was told to write to the builder. This was all very new to me and I was not sure what I was supposed to be doing.
3 September: As instructed I wrote to the builder outlining my issues. I had initially thought I would claim £3,000 but after speaking to the Helpline, I increased this to £25,000 which I understood would be negotiated down.
6 September: After my third call to the Helpline, they sent me a claim form which I completed and returned.
6 September: I was immediately contacted by another company who had to decide if my claim was suitable to go forward.
13 September: They emailed again asking for copy contract, photographs, any correspondence. Full details of claim etc.
13 September: I responded immediately giving all the information, plans, photographs etc.
18 September: Letter from builder (by email) dismissing all my complaints.
19 September: I rang the this second company and told them my builder had dismissed my complaints. My contact said he will assess if my claim is suitable for funding, and if so it will be passed to a legal firm.
21 September: Letter saying my claim could go forward.
3 October: Email from legal company with instructions how to log into their secure pages.
5 October: Received Client Engagement Letter, Terms and Conditions etc from legal firm – total of 31 pages.
Several emails passed between us – I always replied promptly and provided all the documents requested.
8 November: Letter received saying they could not take up my claim, but that I could get a surveyor's report for her to study - which I did (at my own expense). She also asked for three estimates to rectify the problem. I obtained one – I sent it to her and said if the claim had some chance of going though I would get one or two more, but if not, I won't waste the time of local builders.
My surveyor attended on 17 November and I received his report on 3 December and sent it to legal lady on 6 December.
She has now emailed me (Monday) to say their help would extend to 'limited assistance' helping me write to the contractor before I complete a form and submit a claim to the 'Small Claims Court'? (nb: I have already written to the contractor as directed in my first phone call to the Legal Helpline on 1 August – he has dismissed my claim).
And possibly 'off the record' assistance if I then have to issue proceedings'.
I have emailed and very politely said I regard that as a very poor outcome. I have also asked if someone else could look at my claim.
I am very fed up with this whole thing. This has taken five months from my first call to the Legal Helpline (1 August).
My only experience of insurance claims was a car accident many years ago when I was not at fault. My motor insurer (with legal cover) dealt with absolutely everything from start to finish including providing a barrister to come to Court with me.
So I assumed that my house insurance/legal cover would be similar. I still think that if you employ a builder and he doesn't do what the plans say, you should have a pretty good case against him. Makes me wonder what you have to do to use their legal cover.
I am not happy with the outcome. But also I am not happy that it has taken five months from my first phone call for them to come to their conclusion. If they could not help, did it really take five months to work that out? Could they not have told me earlier? And also I think the initial information from the Insurers Legal Helpline was incorrect - it was certainly conflicting.
I apologise for the tediously long post but could anyone comment on this please? Obviously I have skipped a lot of the detail – but have I misunderstood what legal cover is for?
Assuming I have reached the end with the legal firm, I will raise my concerns with my insurance provider. Two fold – their 'Legal Helpline' gave me conflicting advice, and also the time taken for the whole thing to be sorted.
Is there any point approaching the Legal Ombudsman? Or the Insurance Ombudsman?
Apologies for long post – thank you for reading.
In 2021/2022 I had an architect design a front extension to my home. Planning permission and building regs were obtained.
October 2022: Building work started.
February 2023: Work finished. I do not have a problem with the quality of the work.
But after they had finished and the dust had settled, I realised that the builders had not followed the plans accurately.
I really did not want to get the builder back and have an argument with him.
Anyway, the entire thing kept on bugging me. In the end I decided that I either have to let it go or do something about it so I contacted my home insurance provider – with whom I have Legal Cover - for advice.
August: I rang the insurance company 'Legal Helpline' three times during August and spoke to different people - and received very differing information. Was told to write to the builder. This was all very new to me and I was not sure what I was supposed to be doing.
3 September: As instructed I wrote to the builder outlining my issues. I had initially thought I would claim £3,000 but after speaking to the Helpline, I increased this to £25,000 which I understood would be negotiated down.
6 September: After my third call to the Helpline, they sent me a claim form which I completed and returned.
6 September: I was immediately contacted by another company who had to decide if my claim was suitable to go forward.
13 September: They emailed again asking for copy contract, photographs, any correspondence. Full details of claim etc.
13 September: I responded immediately giving all the information, plans, photographs etc.
18 September: Letter from builder (by email) dismissing all my complaints.
19 September: I rang the this second company and told them my builder had dismissed my complaints. My contact said he will assess if my claim is suitable for funding, and if so it will be passed to a legal firm.
21 September: Letter saying my claim could go forward.
3 October: Email from legal company with instructions how to log into their secure pages.
5 October: Received Client Engagement Letter, Terms and Conditions etc from legal firm – total of 31 pages.
Several emails passed between us – I always replied promptly and provided all the documents requested.
8 November: Letter received saying they could not take up my claim, but that I could get a surveyor's report for her to study - which I did (at my own expense). She also asked for three estimates to rectify the problem. I obtained one – I sent it to her and said if the claim had some chance of going though I would get one or two more, but if not, I won't waste the time of local builders.
My surveyor attended on 17 November and I received his report on 3 December and sent it to legal lady on 6 December.
She has now emailed me (Monday) to say their help would extend to 'limited assistance' helping me write to the contractor before I complete a form and submit a claim to the 'Small Claims Court'? (nb: I have already written to the contractor as directed in my first phone call to the Legal Helpline on 1 August – he has dismissed my claim).
And possibly 'off the record' assistance if I then have to issue proceedings'.
I have emailed and very politely said I regard that as a very poor outcome. I have also asked if someone else could look at my claim.
I am very fed up with this whole thing. This has taken five months from my first call to the Legal Helpline (1 August).
My only experience of insurance claims was a car accident many years ago when I was not at fault. My motor insurer (with legal cover) dealt with absolutely everything from start to finish including providing a barrister to come to Court with me.
So I assumed that my house insurance/legal cover would be similar. I still think that if you employ a builder and he doesn't do what the plans say, you should have a pretty good case against him. Makes me wonder what you have to do to use their legal cover.
I am not happy with the outcome. But also I am not happy that it has taken five months from my first phone call for them to come to their conclusion. If they could not help, did it really take five months to work that out? Could they not have told me earlier? And also I think the initial information from the Insurers Legal Helpline was incorrect - it was certainly conflicting.
I apologise for the tediously long post but could anyone comment on this please? Obviously I have skipped a lot of the detail – but have I misunderstood what legal cover is for?
Assuming I have reached the end with the legal firm, I will raise my concerns with my insurance provider. Two fold – their 'Legal Helpline' gave me conflicting advice, and also the time taken for the whole thing to be sorted.
Is there any point approaching the Legal Ombudsman? Or the Insurance Ombudsman?
Apologies for long post – thank you for reading.