Home Insurance & "movement"

Beanpole

I'm in the process of buying a semi-detached, victorian villa but have come up against a major stumbling block when trying to find insurance due to a percieved "movement" issue.

In the Survey it states under the Structural Movement section "At the time of our inspection there was no evidence of significant structural movement noted to affect the property within the limits of our inspection."

In the Mortgage valuation the YES box has been ticked against the "Has the property suffered structural movement" and in the General remarks section it states "The property has been affected by movement in the past although this appears to be long standing and non-progressive"

We didn't think much of this as the house is not in an area that has been affected by subsidence and it and the homes around it have managed to stay in pretty good shape for the past 130 years but it appears the insurance companies think differently. Any mention of movement when getting a quote has them shutting the door in our face (apart from 1 who gave us a stupid money quote!). I have spoken to insurance brokers who claim to be seeing this increasingly but it is a first for both my solicitor and IFA.

I have instructed a structural engineers report, (despite the surveyor who carried out the home report being adamant that there was nothing wrong with the house to justify it) . If this comes back and gives the house a clean bill of health, ruling out subsidence, heave and landslip, can I obtain quotes for insurance without ticking the box about whether the house has ever suffered from these ailments in good faith?

Sorry for the rambling and hope someone out there can help!

huckster

Pretty much all houses have or will suffer from movement. The surveyors will always tick the box, if there are any slight signs of previous cracks or slightly uneven surfaces within the property. This is not normally anything to do with subsidence. I don't think it was really necessary to otain a structural engineers report, but may be helpful in the long run. i.e. if you came to sell the house.

Not all companies ask about movement, but all ask about subsidence. Suggest that you phone around to get quotes and to answer the questions as they are put. Remember that a lot of the staff that work on the phones are there to sell Insurance and will not have much experience. So unless the questions specifically mention movement, I would not mention. If they ask about movement then you can supply all the information you have. If none of the reports mention subsidence that you can safely say the property has not suffered from this.

Sometimes a decent local broker (not Swinton) can be very useful in helping in this type of situation, as they will have knowledge and contacts to help you obtain the cover you require.

Beanpole

I thought the Structural Engineer Survey was a bit of overkill too but the broker said they couln't even get companies to quote without it. Thanks for the advice. I think it could be a case of interpretting the questions the insurers ask but want to make sure I'm covered!

Dodger1967

Hi Beanpole
I'm having similar fun and games after contacting insurers about "possible" subsidance. They sent an engineer who did a report - found nothing to worry about, but the insurers have placed a "subsidence" claim on my record and now when you come to ring around for an alternative quote, no one will touch me.

I'm hoping to get the description of the claim changed so I can clear this "non claim" - if possible try your best (in legal reason) to keep this off you record. Good luck.

Roj

Hooloovoo

Both Axa and Legal and General have time limits on past subsidence.

Axa are not interested so long as nothing has happened in the last 10 years.
Legal and General are not interested so long as nothing has happened in the last 15 years.

My property has a side extension that was underpinned because the cowboy builders didn't put the footings deep enough. I'm about to sign up with Legal and General who have given me a very competitive quote, and there's also £50 cashback on topcashback.

vusys1

Beanpole wrote: »

I'm in the process of buying a semi-detached, victorian villa but have come up against a major stumbling block when trying to find insurance due to a percieved "movement" issue.

In the Survey it states under the Structural Movement section "At the time of our inspection there was no evidence of significant structural movement noted to affect the property within the limits of our inspection."

In the Mortgage valuation the YES box has been ticked against the "Has the property suffered structural movement" and in the General remarks section it states "The property has been affected by movement in the past although this appears to be long standing and non-progressive"

We didn't think much of this as the house is not in an area that has been affected by subsidence and it and the homes around it have managed to stay in pretty good shape for the past 130 years but it appears the insurance companies think differently. Any mention of movement when getting a quote has them shutting the door in our face (apart from 1 who gave us a stupid money quote!). I have spoken to insurance brokers who claim to be seeing this increasingly but it is a first for both my solicitor and IFA.

I have instructed a structural engineers report, (despite the surveyor who carried out the home report being adamant that there was nothing wrong with the house to justify it) . If this comes back and gives the house a clean bill of health, ruling out subsidence, heave and landslip, can I obtain quotes for insurance without ticking the box about whether the house has ever suffered from these ailments in good faith?

Sorry for the rambling and hope someone out there can help!

if you are looking online what questions are they asking? usually its has the property been damaged by subsidence,heave or landslip.

If you try calling one the insurers (Im with the pru, mining subsidence,no problem to get cover) and explain this is natural settlement,non progressive, long standing etc,there should be no problem. If the property is over 130 years I would have thought any subsidence would have occured by now.

alessandro.borghi

I and my partner are in the process of buying a ground floor converted flat. The survey reported: "evidence of movement was observed int he form of misalignment to internal and external openings. This appears to be longstanding and nonprogressive and the likelihood of further significant movement seems remote."
We did not pay much attention at the beginning but after some other issues with the vendor (a disclosure of underpinning which had been withdrawn afterwards) we decided it was better to disclose it with insurance companies as this might invalidate future claims.
Panic: no search engine would provide us a quote as "story of subsidance" makes it automatically refuse our application. I called a couple of building insurances without any luck. They suggested me Adrian Flux or contacting BIBA but we had very little time as the exchange of contract date was getting close.
We even contacted Santander (which was providing us the mortgage) but they refused as they heard about the "movements".
We decided to go to the estate agent and the agent told us it is extremely common, 9 houses out of 10 probably get this type of not in the survey. Still, we wanted to be covered even if the insurance would cost a bit more.
Our mortgage is with Abbey so we went to a branch where the advisor kindly took us through the process and spoke directly with the insurance department talking about our case. By the end of the day we had our policy agreed (the price is higher than a normal policy but not so much and it contains a clause that the house had a history of subsidance so we're covered for anything - touch wood).
I suggest talking to an insurance broker or to a bank branch as they will have direct line with the department and will be able to explain your case better. It is in the interest of the lender to make you finalise your purchase and anyway they all have experience with this type of situations.