FLOOD CLAIM ASSISTANCE

FLOOD CLAIM ASSISTANCE

If you are having issues with your insurance claim following flooding or adverse weather events here are our tips:

• Understand your policy. Look at what is covered or excluded under your policy. If you don’t understand the jargon, ask the insurer to explain what it means.

• Understand the damage to your house or commercial property. You need to undertake your own independent assessment of the damage (Step One) and what is required to restore your property to its pre-damage condition (Step Two). It is important not to confuse Step One and Two. They are different but related questions. Overall, a policy owner should be engaging engineers, builders or quantity surveyors to comment and advise what you need to do.

• Understand the numbers. If your insurance company is offering you a payout, you need to understand and test the figures that they are relying upon. This means getting your own independent assessment of the amounts offered. Make sure you get a builder or quantity surveyor to comment and advise what it will cost to do the remedial work needed.

The number one piece of advice is to always double-check the numbers. The experience of many homeowners is that the amounts offered by the insurers are far too low to allow you to adequately repair your damaged property.