home insurance question

smudger1946

Hiya All,
Thinking of buying a property on an estate with many others of the same type.

Got some paper work from the estate agents which are Home buyers survey and a engineers report that have been done by a previous buyer who pulled out and the engineers report from the owners.

The reports in brief say the property has been monitored for subsadence and has been stable for years although some minor mortar joint cracking has been noted, no real problem with the bungalow at all.
The garage which is detached from the home has some minor sinkage to the dividing wall concrete slab with the neighbours garage, which the owners insurance company wouldnt cover.


The upshot of this mail is if we buy this property can we get it insured as normal or will it be a problem, we have all the reports to hand, age of property 40yrs

ColaCube

Hi Smudger

We had a similar situation when buying this house, the surveyor found signs of what he thought could have been subsidence, it was only minor but subsidence all the same, cause by tree roots getting into a drain. This all happened in the early 90s and no problems since, the tree had been removed and the drain repaired. BUT even old subsidence can cause a problem with insurance, some insurance companies don't want to know, but some are fine as long as the subsidence is old and not ongoing.

We still went ahead and bought the house, we looked into it all thoroughly but its worth bearing in mind it is slightly more awkward for insurance as there's not such a wide choice of who to use, we used Legal and General.

Edit: I forgot to say, I don't think our premium was more expensive because of it. Our property is also around 40yrs old.

G_M

can we get it insured as normal or will it be a problem,

Depends what you mean by 'normal'!

These days most people shop around online for insurance, often using comparison sites. That's where the cheapest premiums are.

But ALL these sites will have a question like "Are there indications of subsidence?/ has there ever been....?/is the property free form.....?" etc

You have the option of
1) lying. "No subsidence." Risk of fraud and risk of ending up uninsured.
2) declaring the 'subsidence'. None of the websites will then let you continue.

So you'll have to use an insurance broker, or discuss direct with an insurer, or possibly seek a specialist subsidence insurer.

You may well find that given the documentation you have, there is no real problem other than a bit more hassle and a slightly higher premium.

Or you might really struggle and end up paying a lot more for insurance.

smudger1946

Normal is normal mate!!!!!!!!!!!!

cattie

When a property has had remedial work or been monitored for structural problems, the insurer will usually be willing to continue the policy with a new owner. If in any doubt, get the insurers name from the vendor & phone up the company to enquire. They should be able to give an idea of how much the premium will cost too.

G_M

smudger1946 wrote: »

Normal is normal mate!!!!!!!!!!!!

and "first time buyer" is "first time buyer" ...... mate.

smudger1946

Who said i am a first time buyer?
Not your mate either, i have one of those!