40-50% Flat roof v Insurance companies...Help!

Serendipity_phoenix

My mother moved into a 1850's cottage in April, the cottage has about 50% slate roof tiles on the original part of the house, and a flat roof covering the extension that is the rest.

When she got a survey (before buying) she found out the roof was about 10yrs old, having some money left from the buy/sell, she decided to get the roof re-done.

After looking around for the best kind of roofing she decided to go for a rubber type roof, these are not the typical felt with only a 10yr life, but have around a 50 yr life(20yrs guaranteed), they are more expensive £3k! but seemed to be worth it.
Incase you are interested:
http://www.crrc.fusiveweb.co.uk/

Due to moving she changed her home insurance details, at first the company R.I.A.S were a bit off, due to the flat roof, but eventually she got it sorted out by saying she was having a new one put on.

She phoned to tell them that the roof had been redone, but this morning (some weeks after telling them) the insurance company phoned her to tell her they had never heard of a rubber roof, and the underwriters were canceling her insurance.:rolleyes2

They have only given her 7 days notice, will not accept to even look at the technical info regarding the roof, and are saying it is a fire hazard. :mad:

It was tested in the Arizona desert so i dont think, it is a fire hazard!

Is this acceptable?

or more to the point does anyone know of a insurance company that insures homes with more than 20% flat roof?? :huh:

I am half way through all the compare sites, but cant seem to find out about roofs or quotes for flat roofs.

even the ones that came up on google search for "house insurance flat roof" seem to limit to 20% of flat roof.:undecided

Any advice would be gratefully received, as my mum is a pensioner and now worried about her insurance and roof!

Sunnyday

Hi,
i used to live in a house which was 100% flat roof and we had the roof changed from felt to a fibreglass mixture.
With either covering we never had any problems with building insurance.
Our mortgage and insurance was always done through Abbey but i don`t know who their underwriters were.
We could get cheaper insurance but not by a great deal so we stuck with them. I can`t see what their problem is, many people have extensions with flat roofs which it sounds as if you have. I would just look for normal insurance for buildings and ring the insurer who gives the best quote and explain that the extension is flat roofed.
Good luck.
SD

greco_2

The trouble is that insurance company staff are basically computer fodder who have no understanding of the constructional features of buildings and their impact on the risk. If the computer say 'no' then the computer must be right.

Traditional flat roofs are a problem because they wear out and people don't look after them so after a few years a problem with water ingress develops. Modern flat roof solutions which involve fibre glass or rubberised compounds do not have this problem and are not an issue for insurers.

In this instance digitalsgirl's mother appears to be the unfortunate victim of an undertrained individual who hasn't a clue what he or she is doing. The line of least resistance is to contact an insurance broker who will be able to help.

jessjess_2

Lloyds TSB sell a product for the over 50's called the Personal Home Plan which has no limitations on flat roofs. have had this policy for a few months and it is a good policy.

ozaru

jessjess wrote: »

Lloyds TSB sell a product for the over 50's called the Personal Home Plan which has no limitations on flat roofs.

OK, it's three years after the last posting but this thread still came up high on the search engine so just in case others browse here too...

I just tried Lloyds TSB for their Personal Home Plan - that product no longer exists but the guy on the phone was confident they'd still be able to cope with our house (large & old with about 55% flat roofs, a few of these being felt on timber but others covered in more modern systems e.g. EPDM rubber guaranteed for 25 years or PVC guaranteed for 50 years). After 20 minutes giving all my details he was sad to admit that the computers of the one insurer in their pool who did accept flat roofs had not accepted our property, for no discernible reason (we tick all the right boxes otherwise).

Last year I used Google to find Adrian Flux (specializing in this area, apparently) but this year their premium went up by 50% (!) which was why I was searching again. Just spoke to Homeprotect (also specializing in 'non-standard') and they've matched the AF price from last year, so I guess we'll move across. Hope this information helps others searching for similar solutions.