how do I work out which locks I have?

reallyjustme

I am buying my first home. the mortgage company says I have to have buildings insurance (which is fine) but all the quotes want to know about the locks on the doors and the little old lady living in the house now doesn't know what type the locks are......... how would I know?......I may go and have another look tomorrow!What should I look for?

Would the survey tell me - I don't remember it sayng anything!
Thanks in advance for any help
x

dacouch

No the survey will not tell you.

Do you live in London or a very large city centre?

reallyjustme

live in birmingham. Why? but not in the city centre

dacouch

Its not a good idea telling the Insurers what locks you have as if you put you have mortice dead locks (Chubb type locks) and key operated window locks they will give you a discount of around £5 on a £200 premium. But in return they will either put a warranty on saying you are not covered if you go out and do not use the locks or you have a massively increased excess if they are not used and you are broken into etc.

I personally recommend you don't put it in then you won't have this warranty, they will just rely on the part of the policy that asks you to "Act Resonably" this in effect means they would still have to pay a claim if you went down the shops and forgot to lock your front door or did not lock your windows etc.

I've seen a few people get stung by this warranty and just answered someones questions on here recently where she was broken into with no signs of a break in and the Insurers will not pay as she had a lock requirement on here policy.

If you do go for the discount and put the wrong locks down then it can cause a problem.

If you want to find what the difference in premium is run a quote through saying you have no window locks and yale type door locks and then run the same quote through but with 5 lever mortice dead locks for exit doors and key operated window locks. You will be amazed at how little it saves you.

For you info Insurers tend to like Key Operated Window Locks and 5 Lever Mo
rtice Deadlocks (That confirm to the right British Standard) on Exit Doors or sometimes multi point locking. If you want to see if the mortice deadlock is the right BS then look on the lock where the mortice comes out, if its BS it will have the kite mark on there and say which BS standard it is.

If your using the web to get quotes check what the total excess is (Voluntary + Compulsory) as they tend to quote with really big excesses to make the premium look low. Ideally on a premium of around £250 you want an excess of about £50.

I'm guessing its your first house, so would suggest you take Accidental Damage Cover on Building and Contents as it covers things you do like spilling paint on your sofa or drilling into a wall and hitting a cable.

If you want to know if the company you have is any good post it up here and we'll let you know