Page 1 of Legal Advice Needed

I`ve been reading and contributing to these forums for a couple of years now, and you`ve always been pretty good at offering sensible advice . . . can you help me ?

I own a flat in a building that has subsidence. I can`t get an extension on my mortgage or remortgage with another provider because the mortgage company loss adjusters refuse to take on the extra risk . . . so presumably any buyers would struggle to get a mortgage as well.

The buildings insurance is covered by a policy taken out in the name of the company setup for all of the lease holders, and is managed by an external management company. The management company (we`ll call them MC) were informed about 2 and a half years ago about the subsidence. Since then on the few occasions that I can get anyone from the management company to talk to me, it seems it took months to get a claim in, then the risk assessors couldn`t get access to the ground floor flats (apparently that took a a year), it then took 6 months for them to monitor the movement and then the insurers blamed it on a broken water main. The water company were eventually called in 3 months later, and they proved otherwise. 3 months ago MC said that they were sending it back to the insurers, but despite numerous phone calls no one will call me back to let me know whats happening.

What can I do to get this sorted, I ring the MC every week and rarely get a call back, when I do catch someone I just get fobbed off with some lame excuse blaming the insurers. If I speak to the other leaseholders and we agree to move to another management company (or manage it ourselves) how does this effect the buildings insurance claim? Can I sue the management company for incompetence ? Is there a body I can complain to? or do I send a complaint to the managing director of the MC so he can ignore me as well ?

Do I need to get all the other leaseholders together to do any of this ? (thats a bit like herding cats). I am reluctant to go to a solicitors to represent all of us as previous experience has left me out of pocket with nothing to show for it.

Any ideas ? I`m desperate.

There are people you can go to for help
You should contact the insurance ombudsman,or at least write to the company you`re having problems with and threaten it. ;)
See if any of these websites can help;


http://www.fsa.gov.uk/

http://www.bioa.org.uk/

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/

This item was edited on Tuesday, 6th September 2005, 10:14

Cheers, will check these out :)

Try the Association of British Insurers as well ( assuming they`re a member,which they probably are).

http://www.abi.org.uk/

I`m a solicitor but it`s not really my field.

One bit of practical advice I can give you is to check your home contents insurance and see whether it offers legal expenses insurance. If it does, there should be a helpline number - call that and you can usually discuss the claim in general terms with a legally-qualified advisor. They can then tell you how to go formally got about making a claim if need be.

Thanks Mark, will check it out :)