Beecroft Sons & Nicholson

WELCOME TO BSN
Specialists in Complex & High Value Claims from around £15,000
Beecroft Sons & Nicholson Established 1842

Insurance Loss Assessors
 Claim Management & Mediation
Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority

BSN is a London based major loss specialist in business and property claims. Under the direction of Steven Newman, a loss assessor with 40 years' commercial and insurance experience, the firm offers an efficient and effective claims service for corporate and private clients wishing to ensure their entitlements are satisfied, and their interests, protected.

Noted for achieving results where others fail, BSN’s expertise in negotiating complex claims and insurance disputes put us ahead of the field when it comes to securing and optimising recovery. So much so, other assessors turn to us for advice!

Suffering major loss or damage can be an unsettling experience. Yesterday’s norm has gone and unexpected circumstances often demand instant change. Compassionate but pragmatic advice and assistance from BSN will help focus your decision-making and alleviate your concerns. Always sensitive to our clients' needs, there when you need us most, we bring a positive approach to negative situations.

Case Résumés

Subsidence -

• The freeholder and lessees of this purpose built block of 20 flats in North London had been struggling with loss adjusters for 3 years when we were asked to act. The adjusters had concluded that the property could be stabilised by incorporating a root barrier between the front of the block and the trees on the local authority footpath, about 6 metres away. They also said that the cost of repairing and redecorating the cracks to the building should be no more than £10,000 - and as that was the policy excess there was nothing for the insurer to pay! We carried out a thorough review of the case history, checked the scope of policy cover, formulated the technical and contractual arguments, and consulted with engineers and surveyors to determine the appropriate remedial scheme. When we could not persuade the loss adjusters as to the merits of our case (and the error of their ways) we presented a comprehensive report with detailed arguments to the insurance company's Chief Executive. The claim was settled by amicable negotiation direct with a senior claims manager of the insurer for over £323,000 and included a scheme of underpinning, repairs and redecoration in every flat, the common parts and the exterior. The insurers also paid for temporary re-housing for some residents, loss of rent for others, and removals and storage. If you are properly insured you have a right to expect the correct solution to a subsidence problem.


• Our pensioner client's house was suffering from the still vigorous growth of a mature oak tree in his neighbour's garden on the boundary between the two driveways. The client was reluctant to incur assessors fees, and attempted to pursue the claim himself. He returned to us a couple of years later having become terribly frustrated, and convinced that the loss adjusters were short-changing him on the proposed scope of repairs, which they were. We eventually persuaded the insurers to do the honourable thing, and they agreed to pay to the limit of the policy cover for underpinning, full repairs, temporary accommodation and storage. A policyholder's instinct may be correct, but may founder without accompanying expert argument.


• This Victorian terrace in the heart of Hampstead comprised 14 leasehold flats and duplex apartments, the ownership of which was complicated by multiple freeholders and lessees. Fortunately, the head lease of all had in the past been owned by one company, and the insurance had been maintained under one policy. The claim was fraught with technical contention, with the insurers bringing in the country's leading experts to rebut our assertions that underpinning was the appropriate solution. It took some time, and persuasion, but they finally bowed to our technical and contractual arguments and paid out £562,000 for underpinning and repairs. The clients were also able to take advantage of the opportunity to cost-effectively carry out their own roof repairs and general maintenance. Persistence pays.