Not upheld: Home insurance claim disputes complaint against AmTrust Specialty Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr S claimed on his buildings guarantee insurance in August 2021 for property defects, with the claim approved in April 2022 but subsequently experiencing significant delays and poor communication. AmTrust issued a final response in December 2023 offering £300 compensation, and a second final response in July 2025 offering an additional £1,000 for continued delays. Mr S sought substantially increased compensation and specific remedies including payment within 14 days and a direction not to condition payments on withdrawal of disputed claims. The ombudsman found the complaint was brought too late to consider pre-December 2023 matters and determined that the £1,300 compensation was fair for the acknowledged failings between December 2023 and July 2025, declining to increase the award or impose additional remedies.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that while AmTrust and its agents made mistakes in claim handling and added avoidable delays, the complaint was brought too late to consider matters before December 2023. For the period December 2023 to July 2025, the ombudsman could not determine with certainty that the avoidable delays caused the work to take longer than it would have otherwise, given the significant defects identified progressively during the claim. The ombudsman concluded that the £1,300 compensation award was fair and reasonable for the acknowledged failings during this period, and that the FOS is not designed to punish businesses but to award compensation reflecting the fair impact of failings.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website