Hi..
My sister purchased a property about 2 months ago. Shortly after moving in there was a funny smell in the hallway which we later found to be gas. It turned out that there was a gas pipe running under the kitchen floor which had rusted though. The gas pipe only ran to a gas fire which won't be used so rather than dig up the floor the pipe was capped off before the rusted part and my sister thought this was the end of the problem.
Recently there has been some water on the kitchen floor. It has come from the soil pipe which comes through behind the kitchen cabinets and under the floor. It appears that above ground level there is a crack in the soil pipe however we are unsure if the water on the kitchen floor is coming from this or from a separate crack under the kitchen floor.
Now onto the main point. She has contacted her insurance company with a view to claiming on it to put right. The insurance company has sent someone out who has said they will not pay out as they say the soil pipe leak probably rusted the gas pipe and that these were pre existing before she purchased the property.
Does anyone think it is worth continuing to get anywhere with the insurance company or should she give up on that idea. Also if it was pre existing is there any chance she could claim of the previous owners insurance for when the fault developed. There are signs to show this has been investigated by the previous owner but was never mentioned to my sister.
Thanks
Greg
My sister purchased a property about 2 months ago. Shortly after moving in there was a funny smell in the hallway which we later found to be gas. It turned out that there was a gas pipe running under the kitchen floor which had rusted though. The gas pipe only ran to a gas fire which won't be used so rather than dig up the floor the pipe was capped off before the rusted part and my sister thought this was the end of the problem.
Recently there has been some water on the kitchen floor. It has come from the soil pipe which comes through behind the kitchen cabinets and under the floor. It appears that above ground level there is a crack in the soil pipe however we are unsure if the water on the kitchen floor is coming from this or from a separate crack under the kitchen floor.
Now onto the main point. She has contacted her insurance company with a view to claiming on it to put right. The insurance company has sent someone out who has said they will not pay out as they say the soil pipe leak probably rusted the gas pipe and that these were pre existing before she purchased the property.
Does anyone think it is worth continuing to get anywhere with the insurance company or should she give up on that idea. Also if it was pre existing is there any chance she could claim of the previous owners insurance for when the fault developed. There are signs to show this has been investigated by the previous owner but was never mentioned to my sister.
Thanks
Greg
