Household Insurance

[Birchy]

So you get water dripping through a hole in your kitchen ceiling, and it's coming from a hole in the roof. The insurance company says that they are not liable since it's down to general wear and tear. Am I expected to scale my roofs every week/month/year to ensure that such repairs may be anticipated and repaired if necessary? Or do insurance companies simply treat my money as their own, and hope that they can get away with not coughing up by suggesting that I am not covered for general wear and tear? I kind of wonder why I pay insurance premiums if - when I make a claim - they tell me it's my own fault and they're not liable!

[wildwood]

You need to read your policy to check if it excluded damage through/caused bygeneral wear and tear. If it doesn't, I would persue the matter further.
Insurance companies require a 'cause of damage' to approve a claim. If you had "dropped your hammer on the roof while measuring it for a re-paint" unwittingly causing the roof to leak, you may have been OK.
I'm certainly not advicing insurance fraud, but their unwillingness to part with their cash does compel people to become inventive. They budget a certain amount of their income (premiums) for claims, if that comes close to being exceeded they become very tight-fisted.
Look around for some kind of Insurance advisory ombudsman in your district if they try to buls**t you.

[strozzi]

Check whether the hole in the roof is due to wear & tear. Roofs don't last for ever and, like every other part of a house, they need to be maintained. This doesn't mean that you have to regularly shin up onto your roof any more than you have to regularly take your taps apart to check the washers. House insurance will not generally cover you for wear and tear so it's up to you to convince them that your problem is not caused by that. And, yes, the money that you paid your insurance company is now their own, to do with as they want, but also adhering to the terms of the policy that they issued to you. I'm assuming that you have read your insurance policy and any notes concerning what you are covered for. If so you will be aware that wear and tear is not your insurers responsibility. The documents will probably include a condition that you are required to keep your property in a good state of repair. You are probably insured for accidents and damage, which will be clearly defined in your documents.

[ukkid76]

I had a similar type of claim recently that was rejected but I did get a new television from my internal policy, the water came through the bedroom ceiling and damaged the telly in the corner of the room. So they would not cover the roof or the ceiling through the water damage but they did replace the telly!!!!!