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Myself and my wife have been daft! We assumed wrongly that during building work( extension) it would be the builders insurance we would use in the event of any problems. We gather this is wrong and the work has been going on for a few weeks now. Is it too late to tell them? Will they just cancel our insurance so we’ll struggle to get cover? Any advice from anybody in the know would be really helpful so we can sleep again! 😉 Cheers
If your extension contains a new bedroom you’ll have to tell them at some point!
It contains 2 bedrooms!
We just want to be covered for problems and do everything right, just wish we’d known to do it before work started. We were just unaware that we needed to do it, we honestly thought it was down to the builder. Whoops 😬
Pretty sure you will be fine.
I'm assuming you have had no need to make a claim?
Just phone them up and let them know.
I think you might need to take out extra cover for the building work.
They basically just suspend cover during the works for anything that can be pinned on the builder. I.e if your house falls down etc but also if it gets burgled because robbers got in through a hole in the wall that wouldn’t otherwise be there. If anything like that happens it should be the builder that covers it on their insurance.
you need to tell your insurance company - don’t worry they won’t cancel you as long as you haven’t claimed and more importantly check your builder has proper cover by asking him to send you proof - don’t take his word for it.
If you ring your existing insurer and explain it, then they may offer a solution. If your worry is that they'll cancel it, then I'd be surprised if you can't find a new insurer. It may cost more, but it sounds like it'd be worth it for both of you in terms of stress.
We had to cancel our insurance and get specialist insurance for the duration of our build as our insurer ( John Lewis iirc) wouldn’t cover any internal structural changes, though an add on extension would probably have been ok. As soon as I mentioned internal steels it was a flat ‘computer says no’
even the build insurance wouldn’t cover theft whist workmen were on site
the architect we used strongly advised not relying on the builder and any contractors to have had adequate insurance
it would be the builders insurance we would use in the event of any problems.
Ok, there's a few bits and bobs to think about here. First off, if the builder damages your existing house, then he should cover it. That's what public liability cover is for. You need to backstop this by letting your own insurer know about the work.
If the builder damages the extension he's building, then he should cover it. Cos it's really "his" whilst it's being built.
You can ask your existing house insurer about this and per the last post, it'll depend on what's being done.
They probably won't want to cover the extension while it's in the process of being built until the point of practical completion.
But it's also highly unlikely they'll cancel your policy.
You may find that they put some terms on the policy about theft etc as effectively your house is more 'open' while the works go on.
It's been a while since I dealt with this stuff so forgive me. Speak to your insurer asap.
+1 speak to your insurer, you definitely won't be the first in this situation, and yes you need it, yes it's not exactly clear 100% why, what the cover split with the builder is, or why it's so expensive:
https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/buildings-insurance-whilst-extension-being-built-expensive/