" At ParkVets, we are delighted with the roofing and property maintenance work recently carried out by The Roof Care Club at two of our sites. The support and advice received from the RCC office staff was also of the highest standard and made life very easy for us. Better still, our RCC membership discount meant that every job was great value for money!"
Insurance Issues
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Printer-friendly versionRogue trader ‘insurance approved’ roofers
There are even ‘insurance approved’ roofers who are still rogue traders. Somehow they have got through the system and are working ‘legitimately’ for insurance companies, but also exploiting homeowners when they undertake private roofing repairs. They use mastic when they should not. Their workmanship is sub-standard. They work on the premise that the repair will last long enough for the payment to clear into their bank account and then they disappear, never to be seen again.
Insurance cover – Invalid due to no maintenance or poor repairs
Insurance companies these days are less likely to pay out on a roofing claim. They tend to resort to the argument that, as the roof has not been maintained or the work has been undertaken by an unskilled tradesman, your policy no longer covers you for any damage or subsequent leaks. Once you are no longer covered by your insurance policy, you are at the mercy of all the unscrupulous roofers, the like of which you can see on Rogue Traders. They’re all out there.
Insurance – ‘Red Boxing’
Insurance approved roofers are now told to ‘red box’ any roof that has not been maintained or kept watertight. Homeowners then receive a letter advising them that they need a new roof and, as the current roof has not been maintained properly, they are no longer covered for their roof under their building insurance policy. The homeowners are then on their own when it comes to funding repairs to the roof. If insurance approved roofers do not ‘red box’ roofs when they are beyond economical repair, they are the ones who will be out of pocket in the long run because, if the roof leaks after they have attended to it , they have to return to that property and undertake more work, at their own expense. The job may have been completed properly the first time they visit but, because the roof is so old or badly maintained, it will continue to cause problems.
This situation did not exist a few years ago. Previously, insurance companies may have approved claims for the same roof three or four times a year. Now, however, an assessor will accompany the roofer on a second visit and make a judgment about the condition of that roof. In most cases the roof will be ‘red-boxed’. The outcome is that if insurance cover for your roof is considered to be invalid, any resulting damage to your contents or to the interior fabric of the building will also not be covered. If you are ‘red-boxed’, your details may well be made available to other insurance companies and, should you try to move your policy, you will be flagged as a “bad risk”.
