insurer says they'll only insure from completion not exchange

aqueoushumour01

I phoned the aa for home insurance yesterday and they said they only insure from completion as it's not a legal requirement to insure from exchange. I understand there's a requirement to insure from the exchange date since you are legally contracting to purchase the house. Presumably I could get around this by just specifying the date I want insurance to start but I am worried they will back out if there is a claim (unlikely, but possible.) Am I right that it is needed from exchange and that it is the buyer's responsibility to insure from this date?

:beer:

waynede

I have recently just completed and I had to have insurance from exchange of contracts as the property is then legally yours. My solicitor sent me a check list of what was needed once exchanged happened.

If anything goes wrong with the property between exchange/completion you are not covered...

pinkteapot

We have our home insurance with Axa and they had no problem doing buildings insurance from exchange and then adding the contents cover at completion.

Try other insurers. You do have to tell them it's a property you're insuring from exchange as it's relevant that you won't be living there.

tbs624

OP - yes you need that buildings ins in place from exchange so try a broker or another insurance company, as pinkteapot has suggested

Richard_Webster

OP should simply tell the insurers he has contacted that they are talking rubbish and they have just lost his business - there are plenty of other companies ho will insure form exchange.

dacouch

Do you have an existing policy with the AA or are you looking to take out a new policy with them?

Wakey2008

You clearly got a phone monkey at AA who didn't know what they are on about. It is a standard requirement at exchange to insure the property as upon exchange you become liable for the property. I bet if you called them back and spoke to someone else you'd get a different answer.

magpiecottage

Wakey2008 wrote: »

You clearly got a phone monkey at AA who didn't know what they are on about. It is a standard requirement at exchange to insure the property as upon exchange you become liable for the property. I bet if you called them back and spoke to someone else you'd get a different answer.

Exactly.

What you cannot do is insure something in which you have no insurable interest - i.e. you must stand to lose financially if the insured event occurs.

But once you have exchanged you must buy even if the house burns to the ground. Therefore you need to insure the buildings (though not the contents as they are not yours).

It is possible that your vendor's insurer will cover you but you should not rely on that.

aqueoushumour01

pinkteapot wrote: »

We have our home insurance with Axa and they had no problem doing buildings insurance from exchange and then adding the contents cover at completion.

Try other insurers. You do have to tell them it's a property you're insuring from exchange as it's relevant that you won't be living there.

thanks all.

presumably i will need to have a firm exchange date before I take out insurance? But what if we had an exchange date set and took out insurance from that date, and for some reason the exchange date was postponed. what would i do then?

Yorkie1

I got a quote online from Directline - just guessed a start date, saved it, and then rang up to activate it (could have done it online, I guess) as soon as I'd exchanged. There were no complications at all.