Early demolition leaves families with £40,000 landslip bills

Residents who have lost their homes to landslips are facing bills totalling hundreds of thousands of pounds for their demolition amid doubts over whether insurers will pay out.

Scarborough borough council, North Yorks, is understood to have sent bills for at least 40,000 each to the owners of five demolished cottages in Whitby after condemning the homes when their gardens fell away in November (Xetra: A0Z24E - news) .

Residents of four doomed bungalows left teetering dangerously close to the cliff edge at Knipe Point, also in Scarborough, following the landslip there last month, are also expected to receive hefty invoices for the cost of knocking them down.

But the Association of British Insurers (ABI) said the councils decision to demolish the properties before they succumbed to the force of nature could mean that policy providers might not be obliged to pay out towards the work.

A spokesman said: Landslides are generally covered but it doesnt usually extend to cover demolition of the houses that is something someone has decided to do and insurance is there to cover the unforeseen.

Insurers could also refuse to pay out if the landslip is deemed to be due to coastal erosion, the spokesman said.

The council disputes the ABI claims and said some insurers had already accepted liability and paid out in full including the cost of demolition and talks were being held with others.

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Early demolition leaves families with £40,000 landslip bills