Not upheld: Other regulated complaint complaint against QBE UK Limited

Decision detail

Summary

B, a residents association, complained that QBE incorrectly identified the cause of building damage as thermal movement rather than subsidence in 2014, leading to higher repair costs when damage worsened in 2018. B argued it would have taken different action had it known the true cause. The ombudsman found that while QBE's information was misleading, B failed to prove financial loss resulted from it. The ombudsman concluded that in 2014 the building was stable, and expert advice would likely have recommended monitoring followed by cosmetic repairs only, not the extensive preventative work B now claims it would have undertaken. The ombudsman rejected the complaint, finding that subsequent cost increases were due to inflation rather than consequences of the misinformation.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman acknowledged QBE provided misleading information but found that B failed to prove this caused financial loss. The key reasoning was that in 2014, the building situation was stable with no continuing damage. Even if B had been correctly informed the damage was subsidence, expert advice would likely have recommended monitoring for approximately one year, after which—absent continuing damage—only cosmetic repairs would have been undertaken. The ombudsman found it implausible that B would have undertaken extensive preventative work a decade before the 2018 damage spike. The subsequent cost increases were attributed to general inflation in building costs rather than consequences of the misinformation. The ombudsman noted that the correct information was ultimately provided by the 2018 report, after which point QBE could not be held responsible.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website