Not upheld: claim decline - not an insured peril complaint against Accelerant Insurance Europe SA/NV UK Branch

Decision detail

Summary

Mrs Y claimed under a commercial property insurance policy with Accelerant for damage to a shared paved walkway that collapsed in November 2022. Both parties' investigations found the damage was caused by water overflowing from a third-party property's guttering, which caused timber rot. Accelerant declined the claim, arguing the damage was not caused by an insured peril and resulted from a gradually operating cause. The ombudsman upheld Accelerant's decision, finding that water overflowing from an open-topped gutter trough does not meet the policy definition of 'escape of water from any tank, apparatus or pipe', and that the damage resulted from gradual deterioration caused by rot, which is excluded from accidental damage cover.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that the damage was not caused by an insured peril under the policy. The policy covers damage caused by 'escape of water from any tank, apparatus or pipe', but the water damage was caused by overflow from an open-topped gutter trough, which does not reasonably constitute a pipe or apparatus. Additionally, the damage was caused by rot resulting from a gradually operating cause (water ingress over a considerable period), which is explicitly excluded from the accidental damage peril. The ombudsman was not persuaded by Mrs Y's later claim that a defective pipe caused the water to bypass the guttering, as this contradicted the consistent findings of her own Structural Engineer and her representatives' own communications with Accelerant.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website