Am I covered with my insurance company for bad workmanship?
Thursday, 24 February 2011 12:30
Emma Banks, our insurance expert from LV, tackles the problem.
Mr Simon Spencer from Beckenham asks:
Question:
Around 8 years ago we had a water leak in our tank and that damaged the floor outside the bathroom door. We recently had a guest go to the bathroom and when she trod on this area of floor she nearly fell through it. I took the (fitted) carpet up and it seems that the repair job that was done was sub-standard, using low quality materials and bad fixings. The insurance company say that there was only one year guarantee on the work. Do I have any come back for the bad workmanship?
Answer: Insurers can only guarantee work for a set period of time as all sorts of factors can influence a property in the long run that may cause problems which are unrelated. Generally speaking many years after any repair works there could different reasons why a problem might arise, for example, dry rot or woodworm could occur and cause the floor to rot which would be unrelated to a previous problem. Theoretically if you can prove the problem is purely down to poor workmanship and the repair not being done properly in the first place you could try to sue the insurer but this would be relatively costly and long winded and it would probably be easiest just to make a claim on your insurance for the damage.
If you have a question for Emma, go to the myfinances.co.uk Ask the Insurance Expert section.
Or for more information on your insurance options go to LV's insurance site.
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