? re:Home/Build Ins. for UK home/build. US owner & resident ??

4bamboo

Thanks to anyone reading -

My mum is a USA resident,non - UK citizen/resident. She has had contracts exchanged and deposit paid on a 4 bed home that will be occupied by me(her son who is a dual US/UK citizen.) The home is in Herts.

Not sure how to get a quote for building insurance in her name. I understand contents shouldn't be a problem for me. I am scheduled to move in around May 23rd '09.

I've spent 12 hours or so trying to learn and get my head
around this problem. I almost bought a policy in my name for building!

Do I need to get my name on the ownership of the house(not preferred for a host of reasons) or is there a company or broker anyone can suggest for this speciality?

cheers

dacouch

Your best bet would be to speak to a local broker who will be able to find an Insurer that can cover this for you.

The building cover needs too be in your mothers name as she is the owner (Depending on how the broker covers the property you might be able to get your name on as a joint policyholder which can be helpful in the event of a claim as it will allow you to deal with the Insurer on claims rather than them insisting on only speaking to your mother).

Some Insurers will insist that this is covered under a Landlords policy and if they do they sometimes require a tenancy agreement to be in place between you and your mum, some do not require this. Some Insurers will regard this as a normal home insurance.

Either way its best to speak to a local broker (I personally would avoid Swintons and use an olde worlde type broker) as they can speak to the Insurers and find out the best way for you.

Incidently could you answer the following for us.

How old are you?
Are you a student?
Are you going to be sharing the home with non family members or renting parts out / having lodgers?

4bamboo

Thank YOU for replying!!!

I am 42
Not a student
No lodgers (my children will stay with me periodically)

btw - Before checking back here, I had spoke to a Swintons broker who quoted me 298.26 pounds. He is now checking w/Norwich(the provider) to make sure about the circumstances.

btw - When you say "normal home insurance" does that refer to me as the policy holder or are you saying that this would be more or less straight forward w/my mum as policy holder and not speciality?

Finding an olde worlde broker sounds like it could be difficult to do. Is there a way to find them somewhat easily? Never heard of this description (and a half Yank!)

anyway - thanks again ~!

dacouch

The reasons I asked your age and whether you are a student, is parents often buy homes near where their children are studying and then the child lives there financed by renting the other rooms out to other students. This would affect where you could get cover.

The other reason iis parents often buy homes for their children, if you were young a lot of companies would want to rate the premium on your age rather than your parents as they would see a youngster as being much more likely to make a claim than a more mature person.

When I say normal insurance I mean a normal home insurance that a normal home owner would take out. It feasible in your circumstances that some Insurers would allow you parent to take out a normal insurance in their name as you are a member of the immediate family. This would need to be confirmed with the Insurer first.

When I said old worlde broker I meant a local broker not part of a big chain such as Swintons. They tend to have more experience with unusual risks such as in your case. They use the experience along with their contacts with Insurers to get a suitable policy at a reasonable price.

You say Swintons have asked Norwich Union, this is one of the companies I would look to place this type of risk with. There are plenty of others and like I said above each broker often has contacts with a different Insurers who will look on unusual risks favourably for them.

If you want to find a local broker this link will help you locate one http://www.biba.org.uk/ConsumerHome.aspx (Biba's members tend to have very high standards)

If whoever places the business for you cannot get you noted as a "Joint Policyholder" it is worth getting your parent to sign a letter giving you permission to deal with the Insurer on their behalf in the event of a claim. Without this most companies will only deal with the policyholder which can cause problems / delays. Its best to get this letter sent to the Insurer before you have a claim so they have time to process it and log it on your file.

4bamboo

Forgive the LA'ism but I just gotta say, 'you Rock'! In other words thanks very much.
Yes, I did also get a quote for an O-W-Broker:

Buildings
<i>£21.03 a month with Paymentshield underwritten by Royal & Sun Alliance.
The policy gives a sum insured of up to £300,000 </i>
(the house re-build is estimated at 138,000. no pay in full upfront option)

Contents (in my name)
£19.84 a month. Same insurer as above
The policy gives a sum insured of up to £40,000

Both policies are subject to a £100.00 excess except for Escape of Water/Oil and Accidental Damage claims which have a £200.00 excess. Subsidence claims are subject to a £1000.00 excess.

Due to your occupation, both policies will be subject to the following exclusions:

Theft/Attempted Theft/Malicious Damage and Vandalism by persons lawfully on the property is excluded

Accidental Damage by persons lawfully on the property is excluded

Liability cover for persons lawfully on the property is also
excluded.

---I found this to be a little high, but looking again at what's covered it looks like I get accidental damage and coverage for any internal plumbing leaks - although not sure(considering also the 200 pound excess here)

I will ring round a bit more using your link. I guess time is a factor considering contracts have already been exchanged.

dacouch

The contents looks expensive and the exclusions are onnerous, I would try a different broker.

You should be able to buy the contents policy using a normal comparison site or a normal insurer as there is nothing unusual about you insuring your contents just make sure you declare you are a "Tenant" ie not the home owner. There are plenty of cash back deals for "new customers" you could use for the contents cover.

I would recommend you take a policy out that includes Accidental Damage and I assume you travel abroad a lot so select "Unspecified Personal Possessions" or "Unspecified Personal Belongings Cover" (Different companies have a different name for it. This will basically cover your Personal Effects eg your baggage and cameras etc when you away from the home including travelling abroad (Normally have a 60 day limit outside of the UK). If you take this cover you can normally get a discount on your travel insurance of around 15% as you will not need the baggage cover on the travel insurance.

Also bear in mind a lot of policies exclude parts of the policy once the home is unoccupied for more than 30 CONSECUTIVE days. If you do leave the home for more than 30 consecutive days unoccupied let your Insurers know as they will sometimes waive the exclusions or they may have things they want you to do like drain the water tanks.

If you want some cashback details post up here and we can help

4bamboo

I've received a quote of £435.00 from a broker w/ £50 excess with Lloyds for Buildings.
Gonna keep looking I think.

The Swintons broker offered me/us £249 w/Zurich for £500k buildings, excess £150.
Contents £71 - £50 excess on a policy of £20k including an item worth £1500 new for old. They are posting the details to me to ensure they understand policy holder is not the occupier and it is technically a rental (I've been told).

dacouch

Have a look at this website as they offer cash backs if you go through their website (You should be able to do your contents online as that is a normal policy, just make sure when it asks the ownership status you put "Tenant").

Bear in mind that occassionally you do not get the cash back due to technicallities so do not base your decision to purchase solely on the cash back, look at it as a bonus when / if it comes through. (You may need to delete your cookies so the websites do not "recognise you" and get the quotes through quidco) Sometimes the quote through quidco is more expensive than going direct to the Insurer.

http://www.quidco.com/?search=insurance

4bamboo

Thank you. Yes, I registered w/them pre-thread when I was trying to do what I could before having to start another thread. I've set aside a seperate browser(Firefox) in order to benefit. But, your 'bonus' approach is exactly the articulation I needed to understand what is most important. I'll keep you posted. I expect to get policies in place w/in 4 days.

4bamboo

On another note - I've been told by an ASDA rep that they don't recommend insuring a property while the seller is still living there(although contracts have been exchanged) because of problems where a property is 'double insured.' ummm

dacouch

The Asda rep does not know what they are talking about, maybe they should stick to selling vegetables. If you took their advice there are chances that once you had exchanged contracts that if say the property burnt down you would still be liable to buy it. If there is no insurance in force you would have no cover to rebuild it.

If you decide to insure with Asda, speak to a superviser as they tend to know a bit more than the normal call centre staff and will understand the principle of the matter. It would be worth mentioning the incorrect advice they have given you as if they have any sense they will want to train that indivudual on this matter