House Insurance Renewal refused

Sparkylady · 23 February 2012 at 10:08PM

Hi, I wonder if anyone can give me any advice on whether I should take this any further..

I have had house and contents insurance with Direct Line for 10 yrs+. The policy was originally in my mum's name and I took it over when she died. Its has probably been going for 15 yrs or more. It was up for renewal on 7.2.12 and an IFA friend of my husband advised that we should check that DL knew we lived in a prefab house.

I rang to check and was shocked when they said that they do not insure prefabs and would not be allowing us to renew. I asked what the problem was ie did my mum omit to tell them at the outset (which I find hard to believe) or did they not ask the question or what? She said she didnt know and 'maybe they had changed their terms and conditions at some point'. My mum made a claim about 12 years ago which they paid and my mother in law has the same sort of house and was also insured with them until 2 or 3 yrs ago when she cancelled due to a car ins dispute. So Im confused. It looks like they have taken my premiums quite happily all these years but if I hadnt rang them I would be blissfully unaware that the insurance was invalid.

have I got a good cause to make a proper complaint? because the more I think about it the more angry I get.
Should I get them to send me copies of the paperwork proving that they were misled, because somehow I dont think thay will find it. And why did they pay out on a cliam if they dont insure this type of house. If they did change their T & Cs shouldnt they let policyholders know?
Thanks for any advice.

Torry_Quine · 23 February 2012 at 10:13PM

Usually it asks if the house is made of standard construction eg brick or stone so that is probably where the proble lies.

raskazz · 23 February 2012 at 10:15PM

Put in a data subject access request for all relevant policy information that they hold including all documentation and letters issued for the duration of the policy, then check through them all.

hugoshavez · 23 February 2012 at 10:33PM

I think, if you found out when they stopped offering this cover, there's a possibility you could declare the policy void for mistake from that date, entitling you/your mum to a refund of all premiums since then.

If the claim was expensive and they didn't offer the cover even back then this may not be cost-effective as they'd deduct the claim payment, but I'd be willing to bet that if your mum's been on cover that long, she'll be paying a pretty high premium.

Disclaimer: This is a theory, I'm not aware of a practical example.

InsideInsurance · 24 February 2012 at 10:32AM

To be honest, what is the real problem?

You've paid the premium and had cover, when you had a claim it was paid out. Ok they are now saying you cant stay with them but to speculate they wouldnt have covered a claim if it had been necessary to make one when past history shows that they did really does make this whole thing a little pointless.

dunstonh · 24 February 2012 at 11:21AM

For as long as I remember, Direct Line, like most direct insurers, offer cover on standard contruction. They ask that question in their application process. It is highly unlikely that they have changed their terms. It is more likely the policyholder said yes to standard construction.

Lets just say it was their error, which I doubt, Direct Line would be required to pay out on a claim in that case. So, if the error was Direct Line, cover did exist and the policyholder has spent the last x number of years getting cheaper insurance. If it was not DL's fault then the policyholder has got lucky by not having a claim and should now get specialist home insurance which does cover non-standard construction.

House Insurance Renewal refused

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