Home Insurance help!

nirey666

Would be grateful for any advice. I am in the middle pf purchasing a property of non standard construction (steel-framed). I had a bit of a nightmare finding home insurance and eventually found quite a good value quote from a mainstream insurer. I was was wary that they didnt fully understand the dynamics of my house, being steel framed, so after the quote i disussued with my partner called back and asked them to confirm my house was down as being steel framed, which they confirmed. I paid the insurance off in a lum sum and recieved the documents today, which after all that, state that i confirmed my house is of a standard construction!!

Were should i go from here? we're due to complete at the end of the week and so i need insurance now. If i called and asked them to provide me with something in writing stating they know its steel framed is that something they are likely to provide??

Any suggestions appreciated.

dacouch

The Insurer you have selected may well regard a steel frame as being within their definition of being standard conbstruction.

Obtaining confirmation in writing would be the obvious thing to do to protect yourself from any mistakes

nirey666

Thanks dacouch. Our roof, with them, is considered to be standard as its metal, even though most other insurer's wouldnt classify this this way, however for the walls, they state brick, stone or concrete. The steel framed houses are particuarly tricky as they have a steel frame, then render on lath, then plasterboard on timber!! so the wall construction definition is really a hard one to classify.

If I asked for something in writing, would this likely be granted and do you think they'd charge??

dacouch

They should not normally charge you for confirming in writing this.

I suspect from the definitions you have just quoted that they will say your home is not actually standard construction

FlameCloud

Is this a BISF house?

nirey666

Hi there,

Yes the house is BISF, with new exterior cladding and a new metal tiled roof...

FlameCloud

To protect yourself, I would tell insurers that is a BISF house- if only to make it exceptionally clear to them.

The new cladding/roof wont really help the property at all- in my experience all they do is hide the fundamental issues with these sorts of house.

nirey666

I did specify it was BISF. The guy on the phone said that they would then class it as steel framed. What do you mean by fundemental issues?

nirey666

Called insurer today. They are now changing my wall construction to pre fabricated - non combustible which apparently doesnt affect my price. However, they're wont be any mention of my house being steel on my policy. I asked twice for notes to be put on my account. Any one any advice on wether this will suffice??

dacouch

Ideally ask them to confirm the have noted the construction in writing.

If they won't do this your best bet would be to write a letter confirming your telephone call and reitterating the construction of your home. Obviously keep a copy of this letter in case their are any disputes in the future.

*Scarlett

If you encounter any issues with this in the future, ask your insurer to pull the records of the conversations that you had with them.

FSA requires insurers to record calls and keep records for several years in case of disputes.

You have declared the construction of the property to them so any error is on their part and you are not responsible for this.

It might be that they have no facilty to input this particular construction type but have cleared the property with their underwriters for cover under normal terms.

There should be notes on their records to state this.

You could always ring them with your policy number and ask them to check your policy and any notes (without disclosing why you are ringing) and they should be able to tell you if there's anything recorded.