Insurance Claim from back in 2015 - Can I still claim?

[lomaximus]

Hi Hope someone can point me in the right direction here, so thank you in advance. I run a small BMW Mini Specialists specialising in reselling Minis and some repair work. Back in 2015 we were only small just me and another lad who worked for me. I had been running the business for 3 years by then and we did OK I had built up a lot of tools, specialist equipment and a decent customer base. I will try to keep this brief.... A fire broke out in the unit I was in, on 6th March 2015, while I was out and pretty much took out most of the unit, tools, paperwork, 2 cars, roof, wiring etc... and then to top it off 4 days after the fire the unit was broken into as there was no security cameras or alarm anymore after the fire etc.. and they pretty much wiped me out of everything that was left. We estimated it to be around £30k in tools and £10k in cars not to mention the paperwork etc... I contacted my insurance broker (I have emails to back this up) who then in turn said they would notify my underwriter in the mean time they asked for documentation of losses and pictures to be sent to them of which I did and sent to them. The unit was no longer useable I had no tools to trade, the landlord was very angry about his unit andf refused to repair the roof and wiring under the building insurance I was paying him separately for. The whole situation was a mess. I became very depressed and actually walked away from the place for a short while. Anyway the weeks went on and I kept on contacting the insurance broker to ask what was going on and they kept saying an assessor will come and view the damage. No one came upto the point that I contacted the underwriters myself who denied all knowledge of any claim and it was too late to make a claim as they had not been notified in time. At that point I had hit breaking point, we were locked out of the unit because the landlord wanted rent still even though he would not let me claim on the insurance. I just buried my head...My head has finally rised out of the ground and in the past year or so I have just about recovered. I am however angry, I am angry that I paid a premium for insurance back then to cover me for any incidents like that and I was completely let down. My question is am I still able to make a claim or do I have any come back on this whatsover? I feel like it should have been a duty of care to look after a business owner in these eventualities and they prayed on the fact that I was not in a fit state to fully pursue them at that time. Any help appreciated. Many Thanks Chris

[Hertingford]

There is no specific statutory limitation period for making a claim under an insurance or reinsurance contract. Insurance contracts are subject to the normal limitation period under the Limitation Act 1980 for causes of action founded on breach of contract (that is, six years from the date on which the cause of action accrues).
The Enterprise Act 2016 gives policyholders a legal right to enforce prompt payment of insurance claims.

[lomaximus]

Ok thank you! Exactly what I hoped! Now comes the challenging part actually enforcing that right! Luckily I did document quite a bit back then even though my head was in bits! Thank you again!