Insurers have been accused of not treating customers consistently, imposing excesses of thousands of pounds and even refusing to insure properties altogether.

The flooding in Cumbria may have been a one in a 1,000 year event, but flooding – and the chaos that goes with it – is something that more homeowners are experiencing. The damage, disruption and mess that go with it can be devastating – and the costs of the cleanup can run to hundreds of millions of pounds. But the National Flood Forum says that some insurers are breaking the rules set out by their own trade body and letting their customers down.

What’s the problem?

According to the National Flood Forum many insurers will routinely treble the premium or the excess after a big flood claim, but there are other problems:

• After the Carlisle floods in 2007, some insurers were criticised for skimping on repairs or for being inconsistent in their approach.

SAVVY TIP: The National Flood Forum recommends using builders appointed by the insurance company. That way you have some comeback if there’s a problem with the work they’ve carried out.

• Some homeowners were so worried that their property would become uninsurable if they made a claim that they preferred to carry out the repairs themselves.

• In one community in Warwickshire where similar properties were flooded to an identical depth, many of the homes were covered by the same insurance company. After the flood waters receded, homeowners had very different excess levels imposed.

SAVVY TIP: Insurers argue that premium and excess levels are a commercial matter. You can appeal if you think the insurer has been unfair, but there’s no guarantee it will produce results.

• Some families whose properties were badly damaged by floods found they had to move back before it had been properly repaired, because their insurer stopped paying for alternative accommodation.

SAVVY TIP: If your policy has a low alternative accommodation limit (such as £20,000) you might be faced with a choice of moving back into your property early or paying the accommodation costs yourself.

Useful links: The ABI (Association of British Insurers)has a downloadable leaflet called Responding to major floods and the National Flood Forum has a guide called after you’ve been flooded.

Selling your property

According to the ABI rules, if you want to sell a property that’s been flooded your insurer should offer to continue insuring it for the new owner. The National Flood Forum says this isn’t happening. It’s aware of cases where:

• An insurer refused to offer flood insurance to a prospective buyer of a property that had been flooded in 2007. This contradicts the ABI’s guidelines.

• One homeowner whose home had been flooded spent £30,000 having her property ‘tanked’, which means the foundations were made waterproof so that water couldn’t get in when the water table rose. Her buyers pulled out when they couldn’t get contents insurance.

SAVVY TIP: Although insurers are supposed to offer cover to a new homeowner they can charge what they like and impose an excess of tens of thousands of pounds. Not only could this be unaffordable if you need to claim, but it might mean your buyers can’t get a mortgage.

What you can do

If you think your insurer isn’t dealing with your case as they should, you have the right to take your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which is a free complaints service.

However, I’d advise you to get in touch with the National Flood Forum first as they have a huge amount of experience of dealing with insurers and in some cases can try and help resolve your case for you. However, bear in mind that the National Flood Forum is a charity with only a few staff members so resources are limited.

SAVVY HELP: Jill Fletcher, a director of WB Baxter insurance brokers is one of SavvyWoman’s panel of experts. Why not ask Jill a question about insurance and flooding by clicking here?