Not upheld: Travel / life insurance claim disputes complaint against Tokio Marine Kiln Insurance Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mrs D held landlord insurance with Tokio Marine and made a claim after a tenant left the property in disrepair. Tokio Marine rejected the claim and voided the policy, stating Mrs D had not disclosed material information about who was living at the property when renewing in March 2017. The ombudsman found the voidance was justified because Mrs D had court proceedings against the tenant in January 2017 and good reason to believe the property was being sub-let to unknown persons, which constituted non-disclosure of material facts. While Tokio Marine's £200 offer for delay was accepted as appropriate, no additional remedy was awarded and the complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Mrs D failed to disclose material information when renewing the policy in March 2017. Specifically, she did not correctly answer questions about who the property was let to, given that she had court proceedings in January 2017 and had good reason to believe the property was being sub-let to unknown persons. This non-disclosure of material facts justified the insurer's decision to void the policy. The ombudsman noted that while Mrs D believed the error was her broker's responsibility, that is a separate complaint against the broker.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website