Home Insurance

PhilCCFC

Hi there. I am just looking around for buildings and contents insurance, a lot of the firms are asking what the rebuild costs would be for my house. When I put in the same as the market value they question it but do not give any guidance on what is could be. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

ArchieB_2

http://abi.bcis.co.uk/

Try this as a bit of guidance.

Astaroth

It should be on your mortgage valuation/ survey.

The rebuild cost is how much it would cost in bricks and morter/ man hours to physically build your house and in strong market conditions as it at the moment will be massively lower than the market value of the property.

PhilCCFC

Astaroth wrote:

It should be on your mortgage valuation/ survey.

The rebuild cost is how much it would cost in bricks and morter/ man hours to physically build your house and in strong market conditions as it at the moment will be massively lower than the market value of the property.

But that was done some years ago. Thanks though.

AndrewSmith

The average based on the last 10 valuations I have seen over the past week is approx 60-75% market value.

Andy

Mikeyorks

PhilCCFC wrote:

But that was done some years ago. Thanks though.

In that case .... it should be on the renewal quote you're presumably shopping around from?

AndrewSmith

In the past I have know it where people have stayed in the same property and have used the same initial rebuild costs for their buildings insurance figures. One guy's house was actually destroyed in a fire but, as he had not had an up to date valuation carried out, his buildings insurance was not sufficient to cover the costs of the complete rebuild. He then had to find the additional funds himself. Couldnt borrow it against the property obviously and it took him at least 2 years to do it. All this time he was also still paying a mortgage for a house he couldn't live in.

Some policies will include an indexation or inflation factor at renewal. WHat I do personally is instruct a local surveying firm to carry out a basic insurance valuation on my property about every 5 years to ensure that my insurance cover is sufficient. No good getting an estate agent to do this as they won't know the rebuild cost, simply the market value.

Just a thought, but on occaision I have been quite surprised by the amount of increase in the rebuild cost over a 5 year period.

Andy

lisyloo

Don't forget that the "rebuilding costs" might have to cover knocking half a house down (which is quite a lot of work) although it doesn't include land costs.

When you re-mortgage you get given a figure.
I am not sure how acccurate these are because I remortgage frequently and I've had quite different numbers.

If you want to be on the safe side then raise it.

I don't think there are problems with being over-insured but there are problems with being underinsured.

Did you know that if you underinsure then insurers will only pay out a percentage and not up to that limit?
e.g. If you have £100K contents and insure for £50K then the insurer takes the view that you are 50% covered.
That means that if you have a £50K claim then you'll get £25K back and NOT £50K.

So I would make sure you are well insured.
If you go too high then you will end up paying too much, but in my view it's better to err on the side of caution.

Mr_Proctalgia

I have just tried the site mentioned and the rebuild costs are twice my purchase price - Is this correct/possible???

oldwiring

Mr_Proctalgia wrote:

I have just tried the site mentioned and the rebuild costs are twice my purchase price - Is this correct/possible???

Is the web sites calculator in square feet or square metres, If you'd measured in one and the site worked on the other,well :eek: the calcs would be up the spout!

If the prop has more than the stnadard grd and first, I think the calc for flr 2 is diffeent from the others too!

cattie

With a blanket cover policy such as the Halifax offers you don't have to put in a value for rebuilding, or state an amount for your contents.

It may be worth checking out their policy as I've always found them the most competitive & you get a 20% discount for applying online.