Sandy complained to us when her buildings insurer rejected her claim for water damage to her living room ceiling, claiming it was gradual.
What happened
Sandy noticed a stain on her living room ceiling and called a plumber to come and take a look. The plumber discovered that the waste pipe in the shower room above had a small hole in it. Over time, leaking water had built up, soaked through to the living room ceiling, and caused the stain to appear.
Sandy had an ‘all-risks’ insurance policy, which covered any kind of damage that wasn’t caused by a policy exclusion. One of the policy exclusions was for ‘gradual damage’.
When she tried to claim on her policy for the damage to her ceiling and the cost of repairs, her insurer declined the claim. It said the damage was gradual, and excluded from coverage. Sandy wasn't happy with this outcome, so she came to us for help.
What we said
After checking evidence from both sides, we agreed that the damage was caused by an escape of water from a pipe. This pipe was underneath the shower room floor. Because of this, we didn't think Sandy could have known about the leak until the stain appeared on the ceiling below.
Sandy took photos of the ceiling the day she made the claim. We looked at these and thought they proved that the stain was new. It hadn’t spread far, and there were no signs of mould or darker staining – things that might suggest it'd been there a long time.
Though we agreed that the damage had been caused gradually, we still didn't think it was fair for the insurer to decline Sandy's claim. This is something that most standard home insurance policies would cover. Plus, Sandy had reported the damage quickly once she noticed it.
We upheld Sandy’s complaint and asked her insurer to accept her claim.