Making an insurance claim for your flat

Nobody wants to see their home affected by storms or burst pipes (or even worse!), but sometimes these problems cannot be predicted or avoided. If your property is affected by an insured event, such as escape of water, storm or flood then there should be buildings insurance in place to help you. You may need to speak to your managing agent or freeholder for details of the buildings insurance policy, but here we will set out a short guide to making a claim.

Mitigating damage

First thing is first, you need to minimise any damage. This means immediately putting a stop to whatever is causing the damage, rather than waiting until the next day to speak to your agent. This could include:

• Calling emergency services to deal with fire or criminal damage

• Switching off mains water using a stopcock if a pipe is leaking

• Calling a plumber or roofer to make a temporary fix if appropriate

• Turning off or disconnecting electrics to prevent fire

• Moving furniture, belongings and electronics away from affected areas

If there is damage to your flat then it may be helpful to contact your neighbours, for example if the flat upstairs is leaking into your property. If there is damage in the communal areas, reasonable and proportionate emergency repairs are likely to be covered by either the service charge or the insurance policy if they are genuinely necessary.

Recording damages

Once the immediate risk or damage has been stopped, it will be important to take note of what has been affected and the steps you have taken to mitigate any losses. The best thing to do is take photos of what has been damaged, including close ups as well as wider shots to show the location of different areas. For complicated claims affecting multiple rooms, it can help to write a list of what has been damaged in each room.

The insurers will also want to know the time and date of certain events, both the start of the damage and when the source was repaired / resolved. Things aren't always straightforward so it may help to write these times down as soon as possible.

Report the claim as soon as possible

Some insurance policies require claims to be notified within a specific time frame, in order to be considered. Time is of the essence, so you should always endeavour to notify the insurers as soon as possible when a claim may be considered.

The first step is most likely contacting your managing agent or freeholder immediately, so they can give you details of the insurance policy and probably notify the insurers of the claim. They might be best placed to report the claim, so may well ask you for the details noted above to relay to the insurers.

Assessment by loss adjuster

The insurance company will typically ask to see two quotes for a small repair, which you can obtain yourself from whichever contractors you choose for the insurers to approve. For larger claims, the loss adjuster may want to visit to assess the extent of damage, determine the best process for handling repairs, and any knock on effects the work may have.

Access for repairs and making good

For the majority of leasehold properties, there will be a clause requiring the leaseholder to allow access by the freeholder / manager and their agents or workmen. Regardless of this obligation, in order for the insurers and contractors to properly and fully address any claim, they are likely to require access into your property and your cooperation to facilitate this will go a long way to expediting the repairs process. Photos and videos can be really helpful to understand what occurred at the time of the incident, but there is no substitute for the contractor coming to inspect the resulting damage and being able to properly quote for repairs. This will also avoid return visits, as they can properly judge the extent of work required, rather than quoting for a simple paint job when perhaps they may have needed to replace the ceiling instead.

Excessive excess

Insurance policies are in place to protect policyholders from losses, usually in the form of physical damage or financial loss. Typically you pay an annual premium to the insurers, which is the price for the insurance. However, what is there to stop residents claiming for every minor scratch or scuff of damage?

That's why most policies will have an excess. The excess can be seen as the first part of the claim value, which is paid by the claimant and not by the insurer. For example, if you have a leak into your flat and claim for £2,000 of repairs, your policy may have an excess of £500 and so you would only receive £1,500 towards the repair costs.

The idea of the excess is to reduce the number of small claims made, which in turn should keep the cost of insurance lower than without an excess; similar to car insurance, the higher you agree for the excess to be, the lower your premium becomes.

Implications and risks of claiming

Insurance is intended to protect the policyholder, and while you might expect it to be simple and straightforward, often that is not the case. There are several things to consider when making an insurance claim:

• Check if the loss or damage is actually covered by the policy

Different policies can have a whole range of exclusions, restrictions and caveats, so be sure to check the policy first. If in doubt, check with the insurers for confirmation.

• Large and expensive claims can deter your insurer from renewing

If you make a particularly large claim, not only is your insurer likely to increase their quote next year, but they may decline to renew altogether if they deem the policy is no longer viable.

• More claims usually lead to higher premiums

Lots of claims on a policy indicate a high risk to the insurers. Because of this, when you renew the policy you are likely to receive much higher quotes for the premium next year, both from the current insurer and any others you approach.

When you might decide not to make a claim

It is always worth considering the extent of the damage and likely cost of repairs, to see if you can avoid a claim altogether. Particularly in large apartment buildings, it is often beneficial to try and avoid lots of claims for relatively small sums, to reduce the risk of insurers quoting significantly higher premiums the following year. For example if you have 5 flats claim £1,000 for separate leaks throughout the year, assuming a £500 excess they would receive £2,500 collectively. However most insurance brokers advise that the chances are the premium would increase more than £2,500 the following year, AND it would stay at the same higher level for several years. This means over the course of 3-4 years, lots of small claims costs significantly more for the building as a whole than the benefit of those claims.

Insurance claims are often made at stressful times and it can be difficult to keep on top of everything, while dealing with the incident itself. If you have an insurance broker or a good managing agent to assist you with the claims process, we suggest you take advantage of their advice to guide you through the claim and help reach the best outcome.