They said no to your home claim.
A refusal is a position, not a ruling.
Home claims are refused with a handful of recurring arguments — wear and tear, betterment, under-insurance, "not a storm". Each has a name, and each has a known answer. Find yours below, or let us read the letter for you.
Who's behind thisSteve Smart Helped people recover £25M+ from rejected claims
“The damage has occurred gradually over a period of time and is therefore attributable to wear and tear, which is excluded under your policy.”“Wind speeds recorded in your area did not reach 55mph and therefore do not meet the policy definition of a storm.”“Your sum insured of £45,000 represents approximately 60% of the true rebuild cost. In accordance with the condition of average, your settlement has been reduced proportionately.”“As the replacement represents an improvement on the original item, a deduction for betterment of 40% has been applied to your settlement.”“You failed to take reasonable care to safeguard your property, as required by the policy.”“You failed to disclose a material fact. We have therefore avoided your policy from inception and returned your premium.”
Insurers refuse thousands of claims every week
Don't let this happen to you.
Which? confirm a number of leading insurers don’t follow the rules that are there to help you, and that their small print is unfair and lacks transparency. smarterclaims explains the arguments you need to overcome their excuse — and writes the letter you need to fight back.
Source: Which? consumer research, cited in its 2025 super-complaint to the FCA
The reasons they give
Refusals rest on a small number of standard arguments. Each one has a name, a meaning, and a known answer. Find yours.
The damage has occurred gradually over a period of time and is therefore attributable to wear and tear, which is excluded under your policy.
Read the counter-argument →Wind speeds recorded in your area did not reach 55mph and therefore do not meet the policy definition of a storm.
Read the counter-argument →Your sum insured of £45,000 represents approximately 60% of the true rebuild cost. In accordance with the condition of average, your settlement has been reduced proportionately.
Read the counter-argument →As the replacement represents an improvement on the original item, a deduction for betterment of 40% has been applied to your settlement.
Read the counter-argument →You failed to take reasonable care to safeguard your property, as required by the policy.
Read the counter-argument →You failed to disclose a material fact. We have therefore avoided your policy from inception and returned your premium.
Read the counter-argument →How it works
Describe in plain English what happened and your current concern. Takes 60 seconds. We'll give you clear guidance on whether we can help and what to do next - completely free. You can start right now, even if you don't have your refusal letter with you.
Drop your refusal letter and insurance policy. Takes 2 minutes. No account needed.
Our system identifies the legal flaws in the refusal and writes a professional rebuttal with citations.
Send the letter to your insurer. Most reverse their decision. If not, escalate to the Ombudsman.
Start free. Pay only if we can help you win.
A small one-off fixed fee - not a lawyer's hourly bill.
Questions
A small number of arguments account for most refusals: wear and tear or gradual damage; a betterment deduction; under-insurance and the average clause; non-disclosure; lack of maintenance or reasonable care; and disputes over whether an event met the policy definition of a storm.
They recur because they are elastic enough to fit many situations — which is also why so many of them are challengeable on the specific facts of a case.
Yes, and it is free to try. Start by complaining to the insurer in writing. They have up to eight weeks to give you a final response.
If you are unhappy with that response, or they do not reply in time, you can take it to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which is free for consumers. You normally have six months from the final response to do so.
Once you have the insurer’s final response, you generally have six months to refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman.
There are also longer backstops — usually six years from the event, or three years from when you knew you had cause to complain. Do not let the six-month window pass while you are deciding.
Usually not, and for most home claims it would cost more than it recovers. The complaint route and then the Ombudsman are free, and the Ombudsman is designed to be used without a lawyer.
Some cases genuinely do need representation — large losses, disputed facts, litigation. If yours is one of them, we will say so.
No. smarterclaims publishes legal information and writes letters you can send yourself — like a digital version of a published legal guide. We are not a law firm and we do not give advice.
If your case needs professional representation, we will tell you, and we can introduce you to the right people if you ask us to.
Checking whether you have a case is free. You see the analysis and the arguments before you pay anything.
The rebuttal letter is £49.99. It comes with an explanation of where you stand and a step-by-step plan.
There is a no-questions-asked money-back guarantee. If the pack is not useful, tell us within 14 days and we refund you in full.
It should not, and firms are required to handle complaints fairly. Insurers deal with complaints as routine business — a well-argued letter tends to be taken more seriously than an angry phone call, not less.
Free tool | Before anything goes wrong
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Meet Steve Who's behind this
Forty years inside the insurance industry, in both senior legal and commercial roles. Former UK General Counsel at AIG. Current Chairman of Lancashire Insurance UK. Regular voice on LBC radio. Steve has watched the same disputes come up again and again — and built the library of arguments that smarterclaims runs on, based on his decades of experience.
“I've spent forty years on the inside of insurance. The same excuses come up again and again, and most consumers don't know how to overcome them. This is the tool I wish my clients had before they called me.”Steve SmartMore about Steve
Real people, real results
“After being injured in action, my military insurer tried to argue that my injuries weren't permanent — so they'd pay me only a small percentage of the policy limit. Steve identified several arguments to challenge their refusal, and they ended up paying me virtually the full policy limit.”
“After a major house fire destroyed our contents, our insurer said we were under-insured — and that they'd only pay a fraction of our claim. Your know-how helped us overcome their excuse and get everything we were asking for.”
“Following a house fire, my insurer's loss adjuster argued that a lot of the damage was excluded. Steve identified the arguments to make, and they ended up paying our claim in full.”
“When my husband's physiotherapy practice was forced to close temporarily due to a virus, our insurer said it wasn't on their list of diseases and wouldn't pay anything towards our loss of earnings. The arguments you came up with convinced them to pay up.”
“After a car crash that wasn't my fault, the insurer tried to write off my car for far less than it was worth. You guided me through exactly what I had to do and say — everything was clear and easy to understand, and I got the full amount I was owed.”
Real clients we have helped, shared with their written permission.
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Describe what happened. We'll do the reading. You'll have the rebuttal in minutes.
Keep reading on home insurance claims.
Free cheatsheetHow to fight Fires and Storms claim rejections easilyOpen the cheatsheet →Free cheatsheetThe UK Consumer Insurance Claim Rejection CheatsheetOpen the cheatsheet →