Property Insurance Claims Loss Assessor fact, ‘It is common for an assessor to secure a 20% to 30% increase on an insurer’s original settlement offer and it is not unknown for original offers to be more than doubled.‘

This was reported by This Is Money back in 1999 and things haven’t changed, even Alan Sugar recognises the use of loss assessors and how they “more than double the figures they had originally proposed”.

Insurance is complicated, policy wording is stipulated in a jargon-based format that insurers and their own loss adjusters understand, as you are the source of their expense when attempting to claim, why would they tell you how to obtain the maximum benefit from an insurance claim.

The opposite number of a loss adjuster is a loss assessor, when you make a claim, conditions on your policy can prove to your determinant if not complied within in full.

Some Property Insurance Claims have stipulations on their policies that your chimney must be cleaned annually and you must provide proof of same, the writer of this article has difficulty with this statement due to the fact it is generally a cash purchase of about €45 to €60. While maintaining your chimney is important and does prevent chimney fires, these cash purchases are difficult to substantiate when it comes to a claim due to the fact the chimney cleaner may not be truthful with the revenue commissioners about his income and moreover when there is a claim he wouldn’t want any questions from an insurance company about the method of cleaning as he may be at fault of the chimney fire.

Other Property Insurance Claims can involve water leaks, they require a plumber’s report and often times your plumber will be reluctant to supply these documents after he has been paid.

Property Insurance Claims arise from a number of insured perils which include, Fire, Flood, Water, Escape of Oil, Subsidence, impact, falling trees and branches, malicious persons or vandals, storm, stealing, accidental damage.

The conditions for accidental damage are onerous and they generally provide, that they will not pay for the following,

• Loss or damage caused by you or your household or by any person(s) who has legally entered the premises or home.
• Loss while your home or any part of it is lent to any persons other than a member of your household or let to tenants or occupied by paying guests, not involving forcible and / or violent entry into or exit from the buildings or its domestic outbuildings or garages.
• Loss or damage by stealing not involving forcible and / or violent entry into or exit from the buildings or its domestic outbuildings or garages, where the property at the address shown in the statement of fact / schedule is left unattended.
• Where the property at the address shown in the statement of fact/ schedule is left unattended and an intruder alarm is installed but not operative at the time of loss the first €500 of each claim will be extended.
• Loss or damage occurring after your home has been unoccupied for more than 45 consecutive days.

When Property Insurance Claims arise, it is best to contact a loss assessor to help you with your claim.