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Sorry, bit of a long one but I'll buy several beers for anyone that can point me to some sound advice.
My home insurance renewal quote has absolutely rocketed, I've been with them for an eternity, but I'm looking around - but I'm perplexed around the issue of STRUCTURAL MOVEMENT.
When I bought the house, the meaningless mortgage survey said - and I quote - "Xerox WorkCentre 7435 Job history report". Another bit said "The property has suffered previous movement with distortion to internal first floor openings but I saw no evidence to suggest this is ongoing". It gave it a category of 1 which is "don't give a crap" and as far as I'm aware was never questioned by the mortgage company. (First time buyer too, so they were on the hook for most of it)
And yes, two of the upstairs door casings have wonky headers. Otherwise it's all sound and has been for 100 years
Anyhow.
Previously some insurers asked if an evidence of scary-house-moment in last x amount of years, one of which is who I'm with, but that appears to be no longer a thing now. It appears any historic movement is required to be declared and the question is basically a version of "ever affected by subsidence or structural movement"
This has got to be the case for bloody millions of properties. Anyhow:
a) and I right in thinking this has to be declared, because:
b) they all want to know the year in which is occurred. Well I've no idea, because it's not a problem and nobody has ever done anything. Surely that's the case with all properties that aren't straight?
Would really appreciate anyone with any experience, or that does this stuff for a living!
If in doubt disclose it. Failure to do so gives the insurer a get out of jail free card. Unfortunately, this may have premium/cover implications.
If in doubt disclose it. Failure to do so gives the insurer a get out of jail free card. Unfortunately, this may have premium/cover implications.
Probably the right answer.
You may do better going through a broker rather than a "computer says no" comparison site
If in doubt disclose it.
Absolutely. But I've no date or event to declare, which is what they want to know.
Can you put "movement completed prior to [year you bought the house], no evidence of any movwment since then"?
My house also has wonky floors and doorways. It is about 140 years old and traditional construction, it is solid and not going anywhere now, likely any wonkiness developed early on. I don’t classify this as structural movement or subsidence as it hasn’t impacted the structural integrity and there is no subsidence involved. It is settlement, which is normal. Good luck explaining any nuance on this to an insurance company or broker for that matter. So I just say no to that question as I can’t see it being relevant to any conceivable claim.
Would really appreciate anyone with any experience, or that does this stuff for a living!
Do you live in our house? Experience only... some insurers treat historical settlement as over and done with and little risk to them now. Direct Line is one, we wrote to them with copies of a RICS home survey report and for premium purposes it doesn't seem to add anything. The advantage of an old-fashioned letter is the one that you get in return. Declare and explain 🙂
To reduce the premium we took a long look at contents values, and especially personal possessions, that made a big difference
Increase a few excesses here and there and if you're lucky enough to have a low to non-existent mortgage declare that too. The lower the mortgage the more careful you'll be with your (rather than the bank's) property.
The premium is now below last years. Be prepared for your motor insurance renewal too!
Our premium rocketed too. We live in a high subsidence area (from memory, there are 24 rating levels and we're in #21).
One idea I had was to increase the excess on the buildings section to bring the premium down. Sadly i couldn't do this with LV. Next year we might change companies.
The points above about disclosure are right. It's a £few 00,000 risk if you miss it out and your house falls down.
Insurers may be waking up to the fact that weather changes are sparking a surge in subsidence claims, and pricing appropriately for any property with a history.
Your obligation is to tell them what you know. Just do that, ie, what you've said on here. Send them a copy of the mortgage report, and say nothing's happened in the X years you've owned it. Maybe add photos of the wonky headers and general photos showing no other issues.
Your obligation is to tell them what you know
To be ultra picky, your obligation is to answer the insurer's questions. You then tell them what you know and they may ask you for more.
Another insurance question if you don't mind me jumping in!
Added bike cover to home and contents insurance last year. Bike was stolen (B***ards). Come renewal time for home and contents and it is double. So removed bike cover only £30 reduction. So shopping around and it is a lot less BUT do I say I still have contents no claims years or not? Is bike cover treated as a separate bit or lumped into contents insurance? Thanks
I doubt it. Bike cover will be an optional addition to your contents insurance I would have thought, rather than a separate product in its own right.
"No Claims" is a separate question to "What losses or claims have you had..." because sometimes insurers will allow you to keep the discount depending on what's happened in the claim and depending on what rules they have for stepping-back the discount (for example, on car insurance you can protect your discount).
So to answer your question, what NCD has your old insurer allowed you?
And then you'll probably need to declare the bike theft anyway. Certainly if it was stolen from home. If it went missing from elsewhere then I suppose there's an argument to say "it wasn't contents", but it's still loss of household stuff which you'd typically insure under a home policy, so it almost certainly needs to be disclosed.
As always, disclose stuff and let the company figure out if they need it or not.
To be ultra picky, your obligation is to answer the insurer’s questions
No, my understanding is that you must tell them anything you know that may be relevant to their assessment of the risk, whether they ask specifically about it or not. You can't tell them something you don't know, so if there's a question you can't answer you should say that. It's possible that they may subsequently ask you to obtain further information so, in the context of this thread, they could ask you to get a report from a structural engineer, but you wouldn't be expected to do that unless they ask.
my understanding is that you must tell them anything you know that may be relevant to their assessment of the risk, whether they ask specifically about it or not.
The law changed in 2012. Consumer Insurance Disclosure and Representations Act (2012).
Consumers (i.e., in this situation as a home owner) now need to take reasonable care to answer questions accurately.