Glen Cove senior citizen fears losing home amid nearly two-year insurance battle

Then in here, this is the den. Grace Slazek has owned her home in Glen Cove for more than 25 years, but leaking pipes caused a catastrophic flood in December of 2024. Now the entire house has been taken down to the studs, and she fears the repairs might never get finished. I'm just extremely concerned. That I'm going to be homeless unless I get help. Grace says the job has been put in jeopardy because of theft, bureaucracy, and delays. In July of 2025, she says a contractor ran off with the first insurance payment worth $124,000. After that, she was locked in a battle with her insurance company, NYCM, for about a year over the cost to repair her home. She finally received most of the funds in early October. And work has gotten started. But now her builder is on a tight deadline to finish the project. If it's not done by December 5th, she risks forfeiting the final insurance payment of $114,000. Without it, Grace says she has no way to pay for the repairs. I lose the money that they're holding back. The house could stay in the condition it's in. I have. A month to finish a house in this condition. Grace is on such a tight deadline because her insurance policy says repairs on the home have to be completed within two years of the incident. She's asking her insurance company to extend that deadline until April 30th, but so far that request has not been granted. A spokesperson for NYCM Insurance would not provide specific details about this case, but they did write. At NYCM Insurance, we take every claim seriously and are committed to handling each matter with fairness, professionalism, and due diligence. But unless this house is rebuilt by December 5th, Grace says it may never go back to being the home she once knew. The insurance company waited 602 days, which is 83% of the two-year time frame. 83% of the time was wasted. In Glen Cove, Nassau County, Kevin Vesey, News 12. And now Grace says she's issued complaints with the State Department of Financial Services, which oversees the insurance industry. She's also filed a lawsuit against her first contractor. We'll keep an eye on that. And if you have a problem you'd like Kevin to look into, just send him an email at kevin at news12.com.