Buildings and contents advice needed

Oldbat_3

I wonder if anyone can help me? My buildings and contents renewals quote has arrived and it is expensive but more worrying it is insisting that a burglar alarm is installed and all windows on the ground floor are locked continually (when house empty or we are in bed) and bedroom windows may be left open for ventilation only if someone is in the room.
I had approached my existing insurer to increase the amount of contents cover form £50,000 to £75,000 and added pest cover purely "just in case". I wasn't warned of the need for a burglar alarm and we do not live in an area of crime. No one has been burgled in this strewet in the last 5 years and the last burglary was a grden bench fron someone's garden.
I asked M&S for a quote and they refused to quote as we had 3 claims from the contents insurance in the last 6 years. The claims were for a cracked shower tray (£1400) in 2008, a diamond fell out of my engagement ring when I was away from the house ( £350 in 2005) and the other claim was for a damaged laptop screen which was damaged when my son was at Uni (£350 in 2005). All claims were substantiated with the relevant reports etc. No claims have been made for theft and we have always had extra accidental damage as we have 3 sons....
I would really like to have sensible comprehensive buildings and contents insurance with a rebuild cost around £650000 and contents cover around £75,000 or more. I don't know where to start and would welcome any advice. We don't have a burglar alarm, do have smoke alarms and most groundfloor windows are lockable and locked and we have two dogs. I need to have new insurance in place for 12/12/09 HELP!!!!

Astaroth

2 accidental damage claims and 1 personal possessions claim is going to push up the old premiums a fair amount as these are the two classes of claims with the biggest impact on premium.

It would seem sensible to add locks to the remainder of your ground floor windows and ensure the final exit locks are up to standard.... you will need to check each insurer to make sure they dont have the assumption that you have key operated locks on all windows.

Going through an aggregator like Confused is the standard port of call, though you will need to click through to the sites to check if they are requiring an alarm to be fitted.

If the rebuild of your home is £650,000 what is the value of the property? That does feel high, are you perhaps better off looking at a mid net worth policy?

Oldbat_3

Thank you for your prompt response. The rebuilding costs stated in the mortgage valuation of the house says we should have building insurance of at least £600000. The valuation of the property was £355,000 in 2008. We can easily sort out the remainder of the window locks but an alarm would cost over £2000 apparently and the existing insurers warn that the alarm must be set whenever the house is empty (obviously ) but also when people are in bed and I can't see how it would work with pets and teenagers coming and going and my insomnia!
We expect to pay fairly hefty premiums but it is the insistence of an alarm which is the main concern. Only one other house in this road of 28 houses has an alarm and it goes off so often that no one pays any attention!
I will try a comparator site as soon as possible.

many thanks again.

Astaroth

Ok, rebuild costs are normally massively lower than the sale value of the property but if your mortgage providers stipulate a minimum value then you don't have any choice.

Some insurers insist on an alarm for higher value contents such as your own but you will be below the threashold for others.

dogbot

Try an aggregator but also see if you can find a good local broker to give you a quote (as usual, not swinton). They have access to more policies and with your sums insured and desire for a high level of cover have some policies that may work out better for you. They have more control over the quote than you will do online - particulalry regards alarms etc

Kittian_the_Blue

With a building sum insured of in excess of £500K you obviously have a property that is either significant in size or has special features such as being listed or of local significance. I would recommend that you look at one of the HNW insurers - Chubb/Hiscox etc, as you are prepared to pay a suitable premium. You are likely to fall at the lower end of their business model and they are much less likely to impose terms such as alarms etc for the level of contents cover you are talking about. Furthermore, their service levels are much better than most general insurers and they have good reputations in the market (as you would expect)

dacouch

If you are looking at Chubb or Hiscox (Who are both exceptionally good Insurers) you will need to increase your contents to circa £90000 to get them to quote

cogito

dacouch wrote: »

If you are looking at Chubb or Hiscox (Who are both exceptionally good Insurers) you will need to increase your contents to circa £90000 to get them to quote

More like £100k +, I believe since Hiscox pulled their 506 policy. Strangely, it can often be cheaper to insure your contents for £100,000 with the likes of Hiscox than to insure them for £75,000 with the likes of RSA or Aviva.

The requirement that opening ground floor windows are locked when the house in unoccupied or everyone is in bed is quite normal but it's unusual to see it applied to upstairs windows unless they are accessible via a flat roof or fire escape.

The alarm requirement is not unusual for a sum insured of this size but the requirement that it should be operative at all times overnight is not insuperable. All you need are contacts on all external doors and windows which obviates the need for movement detectors although not all insurers would accept this.

It sounds as though you are insured with one of the companies which is only comfortable with the average family living in a three bed semi in a low or medium risk area. By shopping around (talking to a good broker), you should get the result you are looking for.

Oldbat_3

You have all been so helpful and give me plenty to think about. I presume I would just look for a local broker via yellow pages? Our house is an 1891 5 bedroomed Victorian semi in a residential area and not in Glasgow or Edinburgh! We are not listed in anyway but the house is built of solid stone (not faced with stone) and has a mainly slate roof with a small amount of a lead flat roof only accessible with very, very long ladders. We are not in a known crime area and don't have a big garden at all. The house is blessed with decent room sizes but the overall footprint of house and garden is probably smaller than most executive detached new builds. I think my desire to be well insured and covered for most eventualities and our history of claims in the recent past may have marked us out as a poor risk. The irony is that over the last 6 years the claim cost is less than the cost of the burglar alarm fitting. I would welcome any more hints or advice.
Thanks again.

dacouch

The claims in 2005 will either already be ignored by the Insurers (Some only take into account claims within the last three years) or will be ignored at the next renewal (As the rest of the Insurers ignore claims over five years). So there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Do not use a national broker such as Swintons, you can find good local brokers who are a member of BIBA (Which is a trade organisation and a fairly good indiciator of a quality broker) using this tool http://www.biba.org.uk/ConsumerHome.aspx

huckster

I suspect the increase to £75k was the trigger for the alarm and security locks.

For a low risk area with no theft claim on your record, some companies would apply these requirements when Contents Insurance requirements are £75k or over.

If I were in your situation I would follow some of the previous advice. Go to a decent local broker with all the information and they will find you a policy to suit your requirements.