Direct line insurance company

[Bettie]

Can an insurance company make you pay for something they think you’re liable for

[MIKE770]

how long is a piece of string????? care to enlighten the situation with us>

[Bettie]

Water from my property leaked onto the inner walls. I don’t own the property, a housing association does.

[Bettie]

Water from my property leaked onto the inner walls of the next door neighbour. I don’t own the property, a housing association does.

[MIKE770]

what communications have you received? and reasons? still vague! ? need to get whole picture before people can advise or suggest? what direct line excuse etc? housing association comments, is your property part of housing association or private>

[Bettie]

Property is part of housing association. Direct Line have sent letters saying I’m liable because the housing association told them that I had not informed them in time.

[MIKE770]

des8 might be able to assist?

[des8]

This is worse than pulling teeth!

You live in an HA property ... .yes.
What does your tenancy agreement say about such situations as water leaks? Exact wording please.

You experienced a water leak.
From which pipe and how did it occur?
When did you become aware of the leak?
When did you notify HA?

Water seeped into your neighbours property
Is that HA owned?
Neighbour is insured with Direct Line who paid for repairs to his property.
Direct Line now require reimbursement from you.


You are only liable if you were negligent
Direct line need to prove you were legally liable for the damages caused and you were negligent in your actions. Most normal leaks are simply bad luck and not negligent.

So please tells us exactly what happened, as all the above is surmise

[Bettie]

Apologies. When I moved in and signed on the dotted line, it was a simple tenancy agreement not very detailed. However I’ll take a look again.
The pipes, I don’ t know exactly where, because when the ha reps came, they brought plumbers. Three. One said it was from the kitchen sink taps. Another said it was from the hot water fill tap and changed kitchen sink drain and plug and blocked the water fill.
the last one said it was the boiler and it is over 8 years old. In fact they no longer have spare parts for it.
I was aware of the leakage when ha posted letter to me claiming they’ve been trying to contact me. This was around the early signs of the pandemic.

l Answered as soon as possible. The neighbours own their property.

[des8]

So until the HA wrote to you , you had no idea that there was any problem about water leakage?

How did HA know about the problem?

"I answered as soon as possible" so how soon was that, and if there was a delay what was the reason?

[Bettie]

As I got the letter from ha The neighbours had contacted them. Pandemic had escalated around this time

[des8]

1) Had the neighbours tried to contact you directly?

2)Was the letter from HA the first you knew about a water leak?

3) How quickly did you respond to HA's letter?

[Bettie]

The ha said the neighbour had tried to contact me several times which is a lie as we don’t get on.

The ha letter was the first I heard about a water leak.

As soon I received the ha letter.

[des8]

In that case, on the basis of your responses, write to Direct Line telling them that as you were in no way negligent you have no liability to pay their costs.
Nothing more, nothing less.

[Bettie]

Ok thank you