How long does an insurance company take to accept or reject a quote?

[samoulie]

My mother lives in a flat where the service charges include building insurance. The empty flat above started to leak dirty water through her kitchen ceiling the week before Christmas when the managment agency was closed. The leak progressivly got worse. It became so bad that* my mothers kitchen ceiling had to be taken down on the 6th of January leaving insulation and old plaster pieces hanging from the beams along with a bare light bulb that had to be moved due to the filthy water still pouring from the flat above. We asked the management agency to break down the door but they said they had no legal right. We rang the fire brigade who initially said as no ones life was in danger they could do nothing. We then rang the police many times until one of them said that the door could be broken down under section 17. This was done and the source of the leak was finally flound. This has been going on since the 6th of January. I have been calling the management agency constantly asking when the ceiling will be put back into my mums kitchen as the insulation is falling onto her worktops and there her food. She had cataract surgery on December 17th so I am sure it has affected her recovery and she also has chest problems due to the damp and stench coming from the open beams and rancid insulation. All the management company say is they have to wait for the insurance company to approve the quote,. Then, last week when I rang again they said that the insurance company need two quotes! Surely they would have been told that by the insurance company weeks ago. I said that we cannot wait any longer and will get somene to do the work then send them the bill. They told me I cannot do that. Would I be in my rights to have the work done and take it from the service charges as it is relly getting my 77 year old disabled mother down?

[des8]

Get local environmental health officer out and try and persuade him to agree the flat is uninhabitable due to the management's delay in putting repairs in place.
You then tell them your mother is going* to live in a reasonably priced hotel until they get their fingers out.