Is this a material factor that must be declared?

I_was_just_wondering

A friend may have a problem with his building insurance. I'd welcome the opinions of some of the insurance experts on this.

His local council introduced a building regs search facility on their website. Not surprisingly, he searched his own address. The bottom line is that he discovered his house was underpinned anout 25 years ago - presumably due to subsidence. He discussed it with the council, who probably now have a record of his enquiry.

Is the underpinning a material fact that he must now declare to his building insurers - as it suggests that the house probably has a subsidence history?

If the insurers say they would not have offered cover had they known, can they void the policy from inception (and refund the 8 years of premiums)?

Or can they retrospectively charge him for 8 years of increased premiums?

Fortunately, he has never made a claim. If he had (for subsidence or something else), could thay now ask for their money back?

I guess he now has to declare this in future building insurance applications, is that right?

With hindsight, I guess he shouldn't have gone near the building regs search facility, and definately not contacted the council! Although, when he came to sell it, it's likely that a prospective purchaser would use the search facility themselves.

Any suggestions on the best way forward would be welcome.

kingstreet

I think he should declare this to his insurer now and to future insurers. There is no question of them refunding the back premiums as they are not dealing with a case of non-disclosure. He genuinely didn't know about it before. He acted with utmost good faith and was entitled to make a successful claim at any time during the intervening period.

Now he is aware, he needs to deal with the issue as a claim after the point of discovering this information would be in jeopardy due to non-disclosure.

All in my opinion, of course.

magpiecottage

Hitherto, he would not have known about the underpinning if nobody had ever told him and, since he had acted in good faith, the insurer would have paid.

Now he must disclose it if the insurer asks. It is unlikely that his existing insurer will refuse to continue cover at renewal but Legal & General do not require disclosure of incidents that occurred more then 15 years ago anyway.

kateryan

Building Societies only used to ask for disclosure if the underpinning was within the past 10 years. This applies to most companies. However, they may check if there are other properties within the road that are undergoing similar problems. Properties built in around London are very prone to this type of problem as they are mainly built on London Clay.