Contents insurance in a house that once had subsidence?

afwone

A few years back I had a minor subsidence claim (caused by leakage from an old drain) and this was fixed. Staying with the same insurer for buildings insurance I can accept. But why does no other insurer now want to insure my contents?

My latest renewal quote for contents insurance is £450 - a bit steep considering I have not made a claim against this element of my insurance for the last 15 years. Am I trapped forever in an unsatisfactory relationship with my contents insurer?

*Scarlett

I would definitely look elsewhere for contents insurance.

You might be stuck with the buildings side of things due to the subsidence but you can surely get a better deal on the contents.

There may be endorsements applied to the contents policy as regards to claims for subsidence - eg. you may not be eligible for alternative accomodation cover for subsidence claims. ( This may already be covered on the buildings anyway).

Where have you tried for contents quotes? Unless you live in a very high risk area or require a very high level of cover, £450 seems very expensive.

I have recently taken out a contents policy on behalf of a close relative which was nowhere near this price (rented property which had suspected subsidence).

Feel free to PM me if I can help further.

afwone

*Scarlett wrote: »

Where have you tried for contents quotes?

Last year I went through all the processes described on this site for getting insurance, and found that none of the insurers would accept me. A list of conditions for contents insurance (even without the buildings insurance) includes me having to state that the property was free from subsidence.

This year with my renewal date coming up, I have tried to get a quote from Directline, Barclays and Tesco Insurance. In all cases they will not accept me for contents insurance if I say that my home has been affected by subsidence.

It doesnt make sense to me either. Unless they are expecting my home to come crashing down, ruining all the contents...

*Scarlett

The policy I found was through RIAS. I think the policy is underwritten by Fortis. I did it over the phone as I was not sure about doing it on-line due to the susidence issue and wanted to make sure they were aware of it.

They seem to be an over 50s company but they will cover people under this age as I enquired about this as I will probably get a quote myself from them when my renewal is due.

There is a free-phone number on their website.

Oscar_The_Grouch

There is no reason for you to stay with the same buildings or contents insurer. By splitting the cover, you will incurr 2 excesses for every claim that involves both. Example: someone breaks in to your home and steals your laptop. You incurr and excess for the window repair (buildings) and for the laptop (contents). If you have 1 policy covering both, there is only 1 excess and 1 claim.

Here's what you do:

Phone the claims department that dealt with your subsidence claim. Ask them for a copy of all the structural reports that were issued.
You need to find 2 reports:
One from the structural surveyor/engineer confirming the cause of the subsidence (should be the first report)
One from the same person confirming the repairs have been carried out and the property is subsidence free
If either report is missing, speak to your insurer again and ask them for it.
Phone the structural surveyor/engineer and ask them whether they can release a letter confirming the property is not suffering from ongoing movement. There may be a small charge for this.

This is all evidence that you will need if you ever sell the property and what any decent insurer will ask for to confirm that the property is ok.

Once you have all the bits and bobs, speak to a local broker (not Swintons or any other chain). They will get quotes for you and do all the legwork to ensure that you have the cover that you need. You may have to put up with a higher Subsidence excess for a few years, but if the engineer has done his job properly, you shouldn't have subsidence problems again anyway!!

afwone

*Scarlett wrote: »

The policy I found was through RIAS.

Thanks, Scarlett. I phoned RIAS today, and answered loads of questions. They are prepared to insure my contents, but the quote is for more than £700! Funnily enough, despite the subsidence the quote for buildings insurance they offer is similar to that of my existing insurer. Where is the logic in that?

It pays to shop around with insurance, but the options seem limited in a property which has had subsidence, no matter how minor. When I have tried to get an online quote for home contents, almost all insurers refuse to offer insurance where there is a history of subsidence.

I shall try following Oscar's advice, but seems a lot of work...