Home Insurance?

Mark-W_2

Well my moving date is in theory next thursday 31st Aug.. my current home insurance is with budget and its about 6 months into a pay monthly contract.
However their quote for the new house is £50 more expensive than tesco..

will i be able to cancel my existing insurance on the day i move out?
and atart my new insurance with tesco on the same day?

ben500

Mark-W wrote:

Well my moving date is in theory next thursday 31st Aug.. my current home insurance is with budget and its about 6 months into a pay monthly contract.
However their quote for the new house is £50 more expensive than tesco..

will i be able to cancel my existing insurance on the day i move out?
and atart my new insurance with tesco on the same day?

It depends, if you have made a claim during the history of the policy (since the start of this years policy) then no, if you haven't then you may get some reimbursement but not necessarily all of the premium.

Madmel

We're moving the day after you, and our insurance was only renewed on 18th August. The old insurers won't cover the new property because it is not within the scope of their business :cool:

When I renewed it, I told them that it would only be for a fortnight, and was advised to write in straight away to cancel it from 1st September. If we have made no claims by then, we will get a reasonable refund (about 11 months) which I thought was fair enough.

I didn't go with the new insurers because they are much more expensive and specialists in the type of house we are buying. So I stuck with the old one for the 2 weeks we're still here and start a new policy on moving day.

Lil_Dee_2

Mark - a little word of warning...you will be expected to have taken out buildings insurance on the day you exchange on your new property.

I think it's buildings in particular that is required, as effectively you have entered into a no-going-back contract to buy a house. Should it burn down two hours before you move in, your mortgage provider would not be happy to find you had no buildings insurance in place!! The only time this may not apply, is if you're buying a flat/apartment, where the buildings insurance is provided via the freeholder/maintenance charge.

I'm not sure if you're referring to contents/buildings or combined, but wanted to let you know about this, especially as you mentioned being quite particular about cancel and start dates.

JennyW_2

along similar lines. I pay contents insurance monthly and renewal was in July. I moved last week and have updated the details and they now have cover on my new property. I have not made any claims and have found cheaper insurance with another company. Can I cancel my insurance and direct debit and start with another company?

santana-mx3

Lil_Dee wrote:

Mark - a little word of warning...you will be expected to have taken out buildings insurance on the day you exchange on your new property.

I think it's buildings in particular that is required, as effectively you have entered into a no-going-back contract to buy a house. Should it burn down two hours before you move in, your mortgage provider would not be happy to find you had no buildings insurance in place!! The only time this may not apply, is if you're buying a flat/apartment, where the buildings insurance is provided via the freeholder/maintenance charge.

I'm not sure if you're referring to contents/buildings or combined, but wanted to let you know about this, especially as you mentioned being quite particular about cancel and start dates.

This is what I thought too. However, when my solicitor asked me to provide details of my insurance and I pointed out that I need to know what date to start it from in order to arrange it, he said that it should be from completion rather than exchange and therefore not to arrange it until I know the completion date.

I checked through the information I had previously received when the solicitor was appointed and it states that insurance cover by the buyer will need to start either at completion or at exchange depending on the contract. It stated that completion is the norm and would apply unless the contract has been written to specify that it starts at exchange. I read through the contract and it has not been written in that way which I suppose fits in with the solicitor's advice.

klaatu

It may be different for us as we're in Scotland, but our contracts have a clause which says that if the house is destroyed by fire or whatever before completion, either party can back out of the deal without penalty. So our insurance only needs to start from the day the house becomes ours.

Steve

Mark-W_2

Thanks for all the info

(this is for combined buildings & Contents)

i have spoken to budget again (more helpful person this time) and my quote is now £200, and i can continue with the current policy but switch it to the new property as theres still 5 months to run.

if i were to cancel and go with tesco i would have to pay a £55 cancellation fee

The tesco is £155 (£170 -£15 rebate for clubcard). +£55 fee.
so in theory it is £10 cheaper to remain with budget for the remainder of the term.

My solictior said that i would have to have the insurance in place at exchange of contracts, i just need a confirmed date... ringing him at lunchtime.
so in theory would my current house be covered by my buyers insurance from the day of contract exchange?