I’ve spent £15,000 on Airbnbs since my house flooded, but Axa can’t cover the costs: SALLY SORTS IT

While I was on vacation last August, a pipe burst in the bathroom of my rental home.

The ground floor rooms were flooded, the ceiling collapsed, the floors warped and the house was made uninhabitable.

My rental contract states that in the event of such incidents, alternative accommodation will be provided through the landlord’s insurer, Axa.

But the insurer told me that I would have to claim these costs on my Admiral home contents cover. Admiral told me it was a building insurance case. I’ve spent around £15,000 on hotels and Airbnbs for myself and my two young children.

SC, Buckinghamshire

Axa suggested that there were delays in locating meeting costs and finding a more suitable temporary accommodation while assessing whether your Admiral content policy would meet the bills.

Sally Hamilton answers: Having personally experienced a similar flood disaster last year, I sympathize with your predicament. I was fortunate that it was clear from the start that my building insurer would pay for temporary accommodation during the repairs and because I didn’t have to move immediately, I had time to make plans.

Your case was more complex because you are a tenant and because the place was uninhabitable, you had to leave almost immediately while your landlord filed the insurance claim.

However, you felt you were on good ground as your contract stated in black and white that the costs of temporary accommodation would be paid through the landlord’s insurer.

But Axa stayed close behind. You first contacted me in October last year, more than six weeks after a water escape destroyed your home.

You expected Axa to step in and sort things out quickly, but instead you had to fend for yourself and move from one place to another, spending thousands of euros on top of your usual rent for the uninhabitable house.

You have moved ten times in total, including staying in a building where you had to sleep in a cot, even though you are 6 feet tall. It was disturbing for you and your children, who are nine and twelve years old.

The situation was more difficult because your landlord lives in Australia and you were initially not allowed to speak to Axa directly.

Your biggest concern was that you had to cancel the rental because the rental property was perfectly suitable for you and your children’s education.

When a rented home becomes uninhabitable, owners with landlord insurance are typically covered for their lost income if the incident results in the lease ending prematurely.

Some policies, such as your landlord’s Axa plan, offer the policyholder the choice to reimburse alternative housing costs for tenants instead.

Watching a scam

Drivers should beware of a scam email pretending to be the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, consumer website Which? has warned.

The message from Tricksters that you are late with your car tax and that you must complete a form to ensure ‘compliance’. The email threatens that your vehicle ‘is not legally allowed to be on the road without tax’.

Do not click on the link to complete the form as this is harmful. Instead, you should forward the email to report@phishing.gov.uk.

The latter option is more hassle for the landlord and possibly more expensive for the insurer, but if an owner has good tenants and does not want to let them down, then it makes sense to have this coverage.

I would suggest all tenants check their agreements to ensure such costs are covered if the worst happens.

Some landlords without this coverage can waive rent if they can afford it while repairs are completed, while others can simply terminate a lease.

In order for policyholders to qualify for alternative housing coverage, their tenants must generally continue to pay rent as usual.

You were also concerned that if you quit, the cover would become invalid and you would never get back the £15,000 you had already spent on Airbnbs.

I asked Axa to explain what delayed the decision to reimburse these costs and help you find a more suitable temporary accommodation. My questioning put it into action and a few days later it suggested that problems had arisen in checking whether your Admiral content policy met expectations.

Some policies offer alternative housing cover, although these usually provide a much lower amount than buildings policies.

It shouldn’t have taken so many weeks for us to find out you weren’t under Admiral’s cover. (As an aside, you said you were impressed with Admiral because it quickly met your five-figure content claim).

After my intervention, Axa finally clarified that it was responsible for reimbursing your Airbnb bills and meeting future housing costs until you can return to your rental property. Just before Christmas you moved into a property for which Axa paid £24,000 in advance for a twelve month rental period.

When we spoke last week you said you had finally paid back your £15,000. You thanked me profusely and said, “What will others do without Sally to help?”

An Axa spokesperson said: ‘We are very sorry for the delays in confirming alternative accommodation for SC. We will continue to provide support until he can return to his home.” Axa also paid you £500 as an apology.

I can’t access £6,000 in my eBay account

I have a problem with eBay which is causing a lot of stress. The company has suspended an old account I had due to a small outstanding balance from 2018 – and now won’t give me access to around £6,000 in a newer account. I need the money for upcoming expenses, including a holiday deposit.

EC, West Dunbartonshire.

Sally Hamilton answers: You told me that you sold two watches through the marketplace using your newer account, with the buyer immediately paying £6,041. They were happy with their purchases.

It turned out that eBay had blocked access due to a £181 debt dating back seven years.

You say you can’t remember what this was for, but offered to pay to have the restrictions lifted.

EBay agreed and said it would send you a payment link, but it never arrived.

You’ve tried to solve this four or five times. But the customer chat service wasn’t making any progress, and since time waits for no one (or customer service representative), you contacted me for help.

Within two days eBay issued a new payment link, you paid the debt and had access to your £6,041. Better late than never.

Straight to the point

My daughter bought four items from Lush as my Christmas present and she packed the box as it arrived, without opening it, but two items were missing. She complained and forwarded the information Lush needed on December 27, but has not heard anything since.

CS, via email.

Lush says items are selected by hand, which sometimes leads to errors. It sent you the two missing bubble bars and added a few more items as a goodwill gesture.

I sold some sneakers on Vinted for £70 a few weeks ago but I still haven’t received the money. I have since sold another item and received the money from that purchase, so why is it taking so long?

TB, Lytham St Annes, Lancashire.

Vinted says there were issues processing the payment, but the money is now in your Vinted wallet.

I noticed some strange activity on my email account in November, so I decided to change my password. However, in December I discovered that over 180,000 of my flight points had been transferred to someone else and the email address associated with my account had also changed.

DK, London.

The airline apologizes and has reinstated your points.

  • Write to Sally Hamilton at Sally Sorts It, Money Mail, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or email sally@dailymail.co.uk – include telephone number, address and a note addressed to the offending organization stating they are given permission to talk to Sally Hamilton. Please do not send any original documents as we cannot take responsibility for this. The Ny Breaking cannot accept any legal liability for any answers given.

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