johnhallscott

Hello people!!! I have just been notified by CID that my beautiful 4 bedroom detached period property in Cornwall was raided last weekend due to it being used as a cannabis factory.... I actually had to find out most of the details from websites including the BBC news site. CID would not discuss much with me on the telephone yet they were eager enough to put the info out in the public domain, giving statements to reporters and newspapers. Anyway, I must fly back to the UK next week to meet the CID in person. They have arrested 2 men and will not confirm any names. However, he did tell me that one will almost certainly be deported and the other is still in police custody. I have just had the property renovated at a cost of £58,000 and was very happy to get tenants so quickly after finishing the renovations. They seemed respectable enough. A man and his 'aunty' of oriental origins..... They had been in the property just over 5 months and I was due to do my inspection at the end of this month. I even have my uncle living right next door to the house so I felt secure that my property would be looked after, considering I live overseas. Having looked at posts on this site, having researched this subject extensively and having spoken to the CID man in depth...it seems obvious to me that the insurance companies have a closed door on this subject across the industry. I am with Intasure. I have owned a property company in the past dealing in lettings and management and so I am extremely careful when dealing with tenants and applicable insurance coverage etc.... I called my insurance company a couple of days ago posing as a prospective new customer....I spoke to a young girl in their sales department..... I asked her what I would be covered for. I let her speak.... I then narrowed down to mre specific details of examples of what I would be covered for if I had one of their policies.....I let her answer each time and spend as much time as she wanted ...elaborating. The last question I asked her (having got the answers I wanted until then) was ' would I be covered for example if my tenants were found to be operating a cannabis factory within my property....police raids it....arrests people inside....thousands of pounds of damage etc.....would I be covered????' SHE ANSWERED 'YES'......'.If you had one of our Buildings policy'.... I said that that was fantastic as I did have a policy with them already..... !!!! 'Oh really!!???' she said.... I then informed her that I would start the claims process once I had the police report and had viewed the property.... I have since had another conversation with a battle-axe of a woman in their enquiries department.... She assures me that I am not covered. She says that it is malicious damage but it has been caused by persons who are lawfully in the property...ie. my tenants. Thus, it is my responsibility to claim to compensation from them. I could not friggin believe what she was telling me. Basically we are only insured against vandalism and damage caused by EVERYBODY EXCEPT OUR TENANTS!!!! What the hell is the use of that!!!? When I told her what her sales department had told me (and I said that it was surely recorded) she said that I had obviously not explained it properly to the sales agent on the telephone!!!! I have since realised something and this may be applicable to a lot of you on this site.... I am pretty sure having spoken to the coppers that the 2 people arrested and found in my property were not my tenants and were not on my tenancy agreement. THEREFORE THEY WERE NOT LAWFULLY IN MY PROPERTY!!!! The malicious damage was caused by people UNLAWFULLY in my property....In which case the insurance company is liable.....regardless of whether or not my tenant gave them a key... In any case, the locks had been changed (illegally) so there is no proof that my tenant gave them a key because there is no sign of the original keys or locks.... I believe this is the avenue I will take with regards to fighting my insurance company .... All there needs to be is one precedent set and the floodgates will be opened... I will try and find a firm of solicitors who are used to taking on the insurance industry. If they win one case they will be inundated with calls from people like us, asking for representation.... The insurance industry needs to be put in its place. It is absolutely disgusting that they can get away with this type of behaviour. My policy actually states that no inspections of the property by the landlord are necessary.... I hope that this has been of some help to you all.... We must all stick together in cases like these as our collective efforts are far more powerful than acting alone. I'm guessing that there are a lot of us out there who have just given up banging their heads against a brick wall where the insurance companies are involved. It would be great to find a law firm which would bring a 'class-action case' against the insurance industry over this matter, representing us all at once. In this way, the laws and regulations are changed immediately after they lose, so as to prevent any further damages being awarded in future cases. If anybody would like to speak to me personally please contact me. These incidents should be highlighted more than they have been and certainly more from the house-owners perspective regarding damage to properties and cost of reparations... The police man did say that there may be some course of action in the future to claim for these types cases where monies cannot be recouped from tenants who have been either arrested/ deported and who have no assets or whose assets have been frozen. But that is just speculation at the moment. I believe there is a 'victim of crime' compensation fund but do not know what it covers. Will look into it.... Here are the 2 most pertinent links if anybody wants to have a look at my situation: (am I able to post links on here without breaking the rules???! Not sure) http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/news/arres...il/article.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england...all/8549678.stm Everybody on this site has my deepest sympathies as I know exactly what you are all going through.... I trust that we will continue to fight these unjust situations which are made 1000 times worse by insurance companies intent on taking our money without ever having any real intention of covering us. Let's try and put a stop to it!!! God willing!!! John Hall-Scott johnhallscott@hotmail.co.uk ps.... I am willing to give people a call if you wanted to chat....just let me know your number privately through my email....cheers