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Buyer has taken out insurance before contracts exchanged

john85
Posts: 9 Forumite
Hi,
I was wondering if anyone has come across this situation before. We are selling our house and the process, while interminably slow (due to the buyer), is moving toward exchange of contracts. This week we got some insurance docs which we thought were for us, but when we opened them they were in the buyers name, they are a buildings and contents insurance policy (not quote) which started a few weeks ago. They are even from the same company we use (that's why we thought they are ours), which is a relatively small company and not well known at all.
Its thrown me a bit, why would they do this, especially since they have started the policy weeks ago and we have not even exchanged yet. I'll ask questions next week, but I do wonder if something fishy is going on, but I can't figure out what that could be. Does anyone know if I should be concerned?
I was wondering if anyone has come across this situation before. We are selling our house and the process, while interminably slow (due to the buyer), is moving toward exchange of contracts. This week we got some insurance docs which we thought were for us, but when we opened them they were in the buyers name, they are a buildings and contents insurance policy (not quote) which started a few weeks ago. They are even from the same company we use (that's why we thought they are ours), which is a relatively small company and not well known at all.
Its thrown me a bit, why would they do this, especially since they have started the policy weeks ago and we have not even exchanged yet. I'll ask questions next week, but I do wonder if something fishy is going on, but I can't figure out what that could be. Does anyone know if I should be concerned?
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Comments
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I wouldn't worry about it. How can insuring a building be fishy?
They've probably misunderstood something at some point and bought it earleir than they needed to.Everything that is supposed to be in heaven is already here on earth.
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I bought mine early. I was going on holiday right about exchange time and I wanted to be sure there'd be no problem and I could get copy policy over to the solicitors in plenty of time.Debt free 4th April 2007.
New house. Bigger mortgage. MFWB after I have my buffer cash in place.0 -
My buyer did this. The only thing was that the documents arrived ages after the sale had fallen through (from the Buyer). I was very upset that the sale had fallen through and was particularly upset to receive these documents months later. Anyway, more fool them for paying for something they didn't use.
Jen0 -
Take it as a sign the buyer is keen. Good stuff I wold say!0
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We ended up insuring our house two days before exchange, because our solicitor / mortgage company wanted proof of insurance before completion, and we were having a fast turnaround from exchange to completion. We wanted a bit of extra time to insure because we needed to prove to the solicitor we were covered, nothing dodgier than that!0
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Thanks for the feedback. I'm sure its just the buyer jumping the gun, the fact its the same small insurance company is a bit weird (its nice of them to allow two separate parties to take out buildings insurance on the same house!).0
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I was told to have insurance by exchange, but with no firm date for exchange! Therefore I got some from last Wednesday, even though I'll likely not exchange til this wed. I'd rather pay an extra week, than risk it not going through on time.0
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It does raise some interesting questions in regards to if there was a claim whilst two policies were taken out on the same thing. If this was a car I think it'd be classed fraud and both policies would refuse to pay out. Worth checking with your insurance company that (God forbid) were your house to burn down no wthey'd pay out TO YOU and not your buyer (or not at all).
BW
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The buyer has no insurable interest in either your house or in his contents which are located at your house.(cos his contents aren't there!)
If your house burned down prior to exchange, your insurance would pay out to you, and his would reject his claim.So you can safely ignore this - he's just wasting money!I can spell - but I can't type0 -
To insure a residential property in your name for buildings cover I found you usually have to have a "financial interest" - at the moment they don't - as they haven't exchanged.
It looks like they weren't clear about their status in relation to the property when they appied for the policy.0
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