Our house is being damaged by subsidence. The insurer agrees and has accepted liability (actually, passed it on to a specialist third party). At present they are monitoring the situation and organising the felling of the trees that are presumed to be the cause. The plan is to monitor the situation to ensure that the movement has stopped and then repair the damage.
My question is: what should we expect the repairs to fix, and what is the process? I'm concerned that the insurer will try to talk us into agreeing to less than we are entitled to, so I want some general idea of what the rules are and the points at which we can argue and negotiate
The property was built around 1996 and is a brick detached house. We live in England.
The damage includes exterior and interior cracking, and windows and one door that don't shut easily. Also along one wall the foundations have shifted, so that the bricks under the damp course have moved out a centimetre or so, and associated with this there is a ~1cm crack in another wall running from the damp course down below ground (presumably right down to the foundations).
Will the insurers ask us to agree a list of works before they start? Will we be asked to sign off acceptance of the work afterwards? What kind of warranty do we have if we subsequently discover problems with the repairs (e.g. a window starts leaking a few months later)?
How extensive should "cosmetic" repairs to cracks be? For instance, what if there is a visible difference in the paint on the repair? Or will they redecorate a whole room to ensure that everything is even?
What will be done about exterior cracks? Will they just repoint them? What if there is a visible difference between old and new mortar?
Are they required to re-fit windows and doors that no longer close smoothly? (We had new windows fitted when we moved in ~15 years ago)
Assuming the foundation movement is not structural, what are they required to do about the bricks that have moved underneath the damp course? Do they have to remove and re-set them (looks like a huge task), or can they just leave it as it is?