Upheld: Travel / life insurance claim disputes complaint against Intact Insurance UK Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr S took out a home insurance policy with Intact on 2 May 2025 at 3:32pm, the same day a fire damaged two bikes on his balcony in the morning. He made a claim 10 days later, and Intact voided the policy from inception, alleging he had fraudulently taken out the policy to claim for pre-existing loss. The ombudsman found that Mr S had not withheld information about the incident timing, having consistently stated it occurred in the morning and specifically mentioning 7:00am in calls on 8 and 9 May before formally registering the claim. The call handler failed to ask follow-up questions despite the policy being taken out the same day as the incident. The ombudsman upheld the complaint and ordered Intact to reinstate the policy, remove avoidance and fraud markers from records, and pay £300 compensation.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that while Intact was entitled to decline the claim for a pre-existing loss, the decision to void the policy based on alleged fraud was unfair. Mr S did not withhold information about the timing of the incident; he consistently stated it occurred 'in the morning' and specifically mentioned 7:00am in earlier calls. The call handler failed to ask follow-up questions despite the policy being taken out the same day as the incident, which would have been apparent from Intact's systems. Mr S's email asking for clarification on coverage timing demonstrated he was not attempting to conceal information but was genuinely uncertain about whether the claim would be covered. The ombudsman rejected Intact's later argument about misrepresentation regarding insurance history, as this was not the reason originally provided for the voidance and was only raised after the investigator's involvement.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website