Buildings insurance - unathorised part conversion in house I'm buying

Cuidadosa

Hi All,

The house I'm buying has a part conversion of the garage into an office (brezze blocks do the job). They also added a window and air conditioning.

The solicitor has found out that the current owners don't have (or haven't even asked) for permission from the planning authority nor the developers. In order to cover for these, the owners have purchased an insurance policy that would pay out in case either of these complain and want us to do something about it (take it down or bring it up to standard). So there is no problem on that side.

But we've been told that we need to tell this to the buildings insurance provider (we are arranging it on our own), because otherwise, in case of claim, they could declare the policy invalid.

Now: I've mostly checked for quotes online and there is nowhere to input this type of information (would it be something like "there is a part conversion of the garage with a window and air/con that have not been submitted to the planning authority nor the developer for approval"??).

a) is this likely to affect my premium? (there are no papers even for the electrical work - although the conversion has been perfectly made!!)
b) if so, how do I compare different insurances?
c) is there an easier way to do it than calling everyone of them?
d) I'm aware that some offers are only if you apply online - will this mean I won't find cheap insurance?

Cheers!

huckster

Can't think of any Buildings Insurance that includes any wording about part of a building that does not comply with building regs or has been converted without consent.

The Insurers don't cover building defects, only liability to a third party, as a result of a defect. The certainly won't cover it, if it is pulled down due to a court order obtained by your local council. You will have to rely on the conveyancing type cover for that.

If the building is in a good state of repair, is built of standard material, will be used for normal residential purposes and there are no issues affecting the risk to Insurers, I can't see that you need to advise them. Ask whoever told you to inform the Buildings Insurers, why they think this is the case.

Cuidadosa

Hi Huckster,

Thanks for that. Yes, there is a separate policy covering the taking down of the conversion. I'm not worried about that one and wasn't looking for the buildings insurance to cover it.

Our mortgage advisor told us about the need to let buildings insurer know about this. we asked him because he also arranges home insurances.

I imagine that there may be a risk to the insurers if the window or the electrics were not done properly (structural damage to the garage? electric fire hazard???). They WERE done properly, but there are no papers to prove it!

thenudeone

I would be tempted to say that you'd only buy the house if they applied for all the required permissions retrospectively, including building control (It can be done retrospectively). How do you know they didn't use a bunch of cowboys?