With any subsidence claim, it is notoriously difficult for homeowners to make their Insurer pay for a proper repair. They are likely to have unsuitable, cost-cutting solutions specified by a Loss Adjuster with little or no experience in specifying specialist repairs.
Some of the Insurance Industry's delaying tactics are:
- Arguing that the subsidence is ‘settlement’ – One needs to ask what has caused the "settlement". Settlement is usually not covered by insurance and would only occur on relatively new properties.
- Crack-stitching - While this is often good practise in addition to structural repairs, crack-stitching is not a structural solution.
- Vegetation - Some trees, like large willow trees, will absorb a large volume of water from a clay soil, causing it to shrink. Many other trees, like holly, require very little water, even if they are quite large.
- Monitoring - "Let’s see why your cracked house is moving!" - What difference does it make? 99% of the time Target can just get it repaired, rather than waste a year with academic study.
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