Bedroom conversion and house insurance advice please

blackcateddie

Hi, we have a three bed semi and had a loft conversion six years ago which added two extra rooms upstairs.
We converted one bedroom on the middle floor to be a study and now use four rooms to sleep in.
The difference between insuring a four bed house and a five bed house is approx £55 extra - so which do I own up to?

jennifernil

Five bedrooms. They are not public rooms so they must be bedrooms.

blackcateddie

Actually it is a public room - I work from home, it has two computers and huge filing cabinet and bookcase in and absolutely no room for a sofa let alone a bed! If the kids have friends round then they all play in here if they want the computer and to all intents and purposes it's the same as a study in a new build, just on the first floor.

jennifernil

I think the fact that it is not on the ground floor may be important. However even a ground floor study might have to be called a bedroom when you insure on the "number of bedrooms" basis, it is an interesting point!

We have 5 bedrooms. 4 of them are on the ground floor, as is a boxroom which is too small to be counted as a bedroom and was originally the study, now my husbands tool store. Upstairs we have a lounge/dining room, a kitchen/living room, another kitchen (we have a "granny flat"),another sitting room, and one bedroom.............yes, we have an "upside-down" house!!

We only use 3 of the bedrooms as actual bedrooms, the other 2 are studies, but they could be used as bedrooms, and have been in the past, so we are insured as a 5 bedroom house.

blackcateddie

Thanks, since I've previously insured as a 5 bed house and only realised this morning that the insuranvce has lapsed and we haven't had any since 2004!!!! Have now gone with Tesco. Not the cheapest but have been very helpful in past and matched the internet discount when I called them to add stuff on.

Have a freind who has just moved into a town house and debated this point over coffee with her - her study and bedroom1 are on the same floor as the kitchen and lounge and I told her that we are in the same boat , just no kitchen. So why does it cost £50 more to insure?

jennifernil

I wonder if the size of the rooms makes a difference? There is a minimum size for a habitable room. Is her study very small? She may find she should really have insured it as a bedroom. Just because the plan said "study" on it does not mean it could not be used as a bedroom.
Are there any insurance experts out there that know about this sort of thing?

jonesMUFCforever

Have you told your insurance company that you are working from home?

Look at your policy and you will se that you are not covered unless they know about it.

blackcateddie

Of course I have, have worked from home since 1999 so Tesco's already knew about it, but thanks for the prompt