If you have a property related legal problem you may not be aware that you might have potential legal expenses cover under your basic homeowners insurance policy.

Firstly it is a good idea to check your insurance policy wording to see if you are able to ascertain whether you have any potential cover for your particular legal problem.  You will find the cover under the legal expenses section of your basic homeowners insurance policy.

Some policies automatically include legal expenses however some policies do not and it is worth checking your insurance schedule to see whether you have cover.  If you do not have a copy of your insurance schedule, you can either request a copy from your homeowners insurance company or you can simply ask them whether your policy has legal expenses cover attached to it.

If you discover you do have legal expenses insurance attached to your basic homeowners insurance policy you will need to contact the legal expenses provider to lodge your claim.  You will find the contact details in your basic homeowners insurance policy.  Normally you will need to contact the legal helpline on the telephone number provided in your insurance policy.  You will speak to a legal adviser and explain your legal problem to them in detail.  The advisers will be able to provide you with general legal advice about your problem and arrange for a claims form to be sent to you.

What is normally covered under the property section of a basic homeowners insurance policy?

Every legal expenses policy wording will differ but legal expenses policies normally provide cover to pursue a legal action arising out of damage to your home and/or nuisance or trespass which does or will affect you living in or owning our home.

The section may therefore provide potential cover for the following disputes:

•    Neighbour disputes
•    Boundary disputes
•    Access disputes
•    Obtaining injunctions
•    Trespass

What might be excluded under the property section of cover of a basic homeowners insurance policy?

You may find your basic homeowners policy has exclusion under the property section relating to any claims which happen within 180 days of the insurance starting.  This exclusion is to protect the insurer from people obtaining the legal expenses insurance when they are aware that a claim will be made.  Property disputes often arise over a period of time and generally legal expenses policies do not cover claims which arise before the insurance is taken out.

There will also be other exclusions under a basic homeowners insurance policy which relate directly to property legal claims.  It is common for a homeowners insurance legal expenses policy to exclude legal claims relating to the following:

•    Town and county planning laws and regulations
•    Anything to do with building, re-building, converting extending all or part of the home
•    Subsidence, heave, landslip, mining or quarrying
•    Any work by or under the order of any government, public or local authority
•    Any dispute between landlord and tenant or licensor and licensee
•    Applications for judicial review

How do I make a claim?

Once you have received a claims form you should fill this in as fully as possible and include copies of ay evidence you have obtained.  If there are any witness statements it is a good idea to include copies of them when you return the claims form together with copies of any photographs etc.

Your claims form will be passed to a legal adviser who will assess the merits of your claim.  As long as your claim does not attract any of the exclusions within the policy and the legal adviser has assessed that your claim has a reasonable chance of winning, your claim will be sent to solicitors to deal with.  You will then have direct contact with the allocated solicitors from this point onwards.