Home Insurance Cancelled. Help Needed Please

van22663

I have today received a letter from Equity Red Star home insurance cancelling my policy because I did not declare 2 previous claims. I rang and disputed this as I had no idea what they were talking about. After many phone calls & record checking, I found out that I had an insurance person come to my house 4 years ago about some damp but he said it was not an insurable problem. I thought that a claim was when money was paid out to the policy holder by the insurance company. Apparantly not, even though the claim was refused, I should still have declared it. As a result, I have had my policy cancelled and now cannot get cover. I paid £120 for the year and only 1 company will cover me now that I can find and that is over £400. Please can someone advise me, I genuinely did not realise how insurance companies operated with regard to pre existing claims and now because I have been refused insurance, I am struggling to get cover. Is there anything I can do ?
Thank you

Quentin

Not a lot you can do with "off the peg" mainstream insurers - none will want you following this.

Google for specialist insurance brokers who deal with "difficult" cases like yours and see if they can beat the £400 quote you have found (Does that insurer know you have had your policy cancelled? You now need to declare the cancelled policy to all insurers as well as the other losses you got "found out" over)

somalt

You might be able to dispute the cancellation of the policy. How did you take the policy out? Were the questions you were asked clear and specific enough to make it clear that they were asking about claims and incidents which might have lead to a claim.

There could also be inaccurate information on CUE, you say they have said you didn't declare two claims and you've only thought of one. You should be entitled to details of the claims they think you should have declared.

You have the right to complain about the cancellation to the insurer and that should also give you the right to refer to the Financial Ombudsmen Service if you remain unhappy with the outcome.

van22663

Thanks for that, I will take a look. I am gutted, I genuinely did not know about this....must be very thick ! Oh well, you live and learn.

van22663

Thank you Somalt. I took the policy out online through compare the market. The form just said have you had any claims or losses in the past 5 years. I said no because as far as I knew, I hadnt. It was only when I rang to request someone take a look at a floor that I suspected was subsiding that this came to light. I told them that someone had looked before but said it was "wear and tear" but a builder recently had told me to dispute it. They said that I had not mentioned a previous claim and I said that i had not made a claim, i was told it was not an insurable issue. I have had the policy for 4 months, this came to light because of this incident. The insurance company then told me that I needed to declare claims even if nothing was paid. I have requested a copy from the IDSL to show what details they have on record but I am just worried about not being able to get cover or an expensive policy i can ill afford.