Home Insurance Discussion

hethmar

Im not sure why you would say it was 3 beds if it were 5 though? I have 4 beds, albeit one is used for an office but then our down stairs accommodation area is much bigger - insurers dont ask you to measure the house up if you have unlimited cover.

(Surely the area to be rebuilt is more important than the number of rooms in that area as you could have double the number of little rooms but it would all still require the same amount of rebuilding wouldnt it? Ditto they dont ask how high the ceilings are or quality of decor)

Roger_Steven

On Martin's latest newsletter, he seems to suggest that leaseholders do not need buildings insurance.

QUOTE
Leaseholders don't need it: Some homeowners buying buildings cover when they only have leasehold agreements; yet only freeholders need it.

I have a leasehold flat and only pay a ground rent of £40 p/a.
I have always paid buildings insurance and I am wondering if there are there different kinds of leaseholders? Does Martin's comment only apply to certain leaseholders or does this apply to all?

adon30

Roger_Steven wrote: »

On Martin's latest newsletter, he seems to suggest that leaseholders do not need buildings insurance.

QUOTE
Leaseholders don't need it: Some homeowners buying buildings cover when they only have leasehold agreements; yet only freeholders need it.

I also read this in Martins newsletter and was bemused. So came on here to find out what it was all about.

By leaseholder is it meant to be tenant (renter)? As I could not understand why someone with a mortgage (or owned) a property would not insure the building. I'm fairly sure the owner of the land would not rebuild my house at their expense if it fell down for some reason.

My land is leasehold. Something like a 99 year lease at £10 a month which has never been collected.

Anyone have any ideas?

redbuta

Hi all,
I was told yesterday that my flat is going to be included in a block building insurance by Zurich via the factoring company from October. The insured reinstatement value for each unit (100K) is about 25% lower than my home report quoted (135k). Most flat owners voted for that already saying it's a good choice (120 a year, they did go compare).

I'm currently with Zurich as well for building and contents till next March so will need to make it contents only from October.

However do I need to worry about that 25% difference between the quotes given by the home report and the factoring company?

Thanks!

Saffa

Hi, Im new to this forum so please help me!!

Im a full time student and have recently been burgled and dont have insurance!! Big mistake! Im now trying to get insurance and cant seem to get below £250 for the year. Does anyone know the best site to have a look at for students?

Thanks

luci

Do your parents have contents insurance? Some policies have a "items away from the home" which covers their children's contents when they are living away from home as a student.

Mike_s

HI, I just popped in to check for replies to my last post here but there seem to be none.

Does anyone want to offer an opinion n the ACTUAL SERVCIE provided by thgeir insurer follwoing a claim as DIRECT LINE have been pathetic and unhelpful.

thank you

Razzock

hethmar wrote: »

Im not sure why you would say it was 3 beds if it were 5 though? I have 4 beds, albeit one is used for an office

Hi Again!

If I had a 5 bedroomed house and lived on my own and used the other four bedrooms as an office, library etc. I could say to the insurance company I have a 1 bedroom house and get cover for £100 if I say the same house is a 5 bedroom then the premium would be £400 (prices only for example)

Would the unlimited 1 bedroom cover be the same as the 5 bedroom cover costing much more? - It's the same house.

You would be under insured so you need to insure the house as what you would sell it as.

Hope this makes sense.

dacouch

Razzock wrote: »

Hi Again!

If I had a 5 bedroomed house and lived on my own and used the other four bedrooms as an office, library etc. I could say to the insurance company I have a 1 bedroom house and get cover for £100 if I say the same house is a 5 bedroom then the premium would be £400 (prices only for example)

Would the unlimited 1 bedroom cover be the same as the 5 bedroom cover costing much more? - It's the same house.

You would be under insured so you need to insure the house as what you would sell it as.

Hope this makes sense.

Doing this could cause you serious problems should the Insurers discover it which is generally when you have a claim.

Insurers who offer policies rated on the amount of bedrooms will typically ask how many bedrooms the property has and normally include a tag line on what they define a bedroom to be. This would often be a room that was originally built with the purpose of being a bedroom.

They offer a notional sum insured which is more than you need but rate the premium on the type of house eg detached and how many bedrooms it has. This allows them to charge a premium that reflects the risk of a claim for that type of claim.

By not declaring the correct amount of bedrooms the Insurer would not be charging the correct premium and you would have miss led the Insurer.

Depending on the reason why you miss led the Insurer it could potentially mean they can void the policy and not pay your claim. By declaring only one bedroom for a five bedroom property there is a very good chance the Insurer would class this as not being an innocent non disclosure which would mean the policy being voided and claim not paid.

Have a read of this from the Ombudsman on non disclosure which may help explain the situation on non disclosure http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/46/46_non_disclosure_insurance.htm

With a 5 bedroom detached property which I would guess is over 60 years old you have the additional risk that a lot of Insurers (Not all) who offer the bedroom rated policies. Do not offer cover for properties with more than 4 bedrooms over a certain age of property as they know the rebuild cost is much higher than a normal property so they do not want it on their bedroom rated policy. This would further complicate the issue if you had non disclosed.

It is very easy for Insurers to discover non disclosed information on an issue such as this now days. They simply use the internet and would look at websites such as google earth, google street view or any of the property websites.

If you tell us which Insurer you are with, we can look up if they have a definition of what they class as a bedroom on their website for you

*Kat*

Anyone have any thoughts on Heath Lambert Key connect insurance? I used comparethemarket or something like that and that was the cheapest at £123 PY with £100 excess

Or! Should I go for an insurance company ive heard of before, Endsleigh is 173£ with no excess??

This covers contents insurance (accidental damage), personal possessions, Legal protection, money and credit cards (i dont have a credit card anyway). Whereas, Heath Lambert only covers Contents a/d, personal possessions and legal protection (no money or credit card insurance).