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Who is liable for my leaking roof?
Our personal finance expert has advice on an insurance problem
November 21, 2021 08:31
Our personal finance expert has advice on an insurance problem
November 21, 2021 08:31QI have a leak in my ceiling below where a flat roof meets a floor to ceiling window. I have had four different roofers in to ‘mend’ the leak and the warranty company for the window three times, as the original installer has gone bust. None of their solutions have worked, despite costing me hundreds of pounds. It has been going on for over a year.
I contacted my insurance company which has paid to find where the leak is, but says it won’t cover the cost of the repair because it is shoddy workmanship as the window was installed incorrectly. Why do I have to pay the cost of mending the window, repairing the roof and decorating internally where the water has leaked? Isn’t that the whole point of home insurance?
A I am sorry to hear about your leak, you really are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Unfortunately your insurer is not alone — home insurance does not pay out for shoddy or faulty workmanship.
For example, Direct Line’s policy says it will not pay out for “faulty workmanship, faulty design or the use of faulty materials.” Aviva excludes “faulty materials or workmanship, damage caused by faulty or unsuitable materials, design or poor workmanship” and LV excludes “faulty design, materials or workmanship”.
Malcolm Tarling, at the Association of British Insurers says: “Home insurance is designed to cover specific events, such as damage and loss caused by fire, flood, storms, and burglary. However, it is not a maintenance contract, and is not designed or priced to cover losses that are caused by a lack of maintenance or poor workmanship.”
The reason faulty workmanship is excluded is because the insurers expect you to take it up with your contractor and either get it rectified or claim on their professional insurance. However because the window installer has gone out of business this is not a route available to you.
You do mention a warranty — this should cover the cost of rectifying the fault in the window at least. Check the small print as some warranties only cover repairs rather than full replacements.
The one other area you could perhaps look at is claiming under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, if you paid for more than £100 of the cost of the window on your credit card. This cover makes your credit card provider jointly liable with the window company if your goods or services are faulty.
However while the cost of the actual repairs would not be covered by home insurance, it could be worth asking your insurer if it will cover the cost of the internal redecorations.
You say it has already covered the cost of the investigations to find out exactly where the leak is coming from, so it may be amenable to meeting this portion of your costs as well.
If it won’t, unfortunately you are on your own, as you cannot claim any consequential damages from the company providing the window warranty. Good luck.