House Insurance - after underpinning

SALOPMAN

My daughter has had a problem with cracks in her 6yr old house and the NHBC has agreed to foot the bill, it seems trees about 15 metres away (not on their ground) are sucking moisture out from under the foundations and the house has to be underpinned. Apparently the NHBC told her that the original builder (due to trees being about 80 yrs old) should have put in extra foundations, thats why they are sorting out the claim in full. Now, she is worried about future Insurance - she has read horror stories about how her existing ins will shoot up..etc So, where can she go to get new quotes?? who will have sympathy on the NHBC work and eventually insure the underpinned property at a reasonable level.??

dacouch

She needs to stay with her current Insurers.

Make sure she informs them of the underpinning

huckster

Agreed she is stuck with the current Insurers and needs to tell them about the NHBC works.

If she needs to move out of her house while the underpinning is done, will the NHBC pay the relevant costs ? Suggest that she makes some enquiries about exactly what NHBC will pay for. She needs to know, as if there is a gap, she needs to talk to her Insurers about this.

SALOPMAN

The work is being done as we speak and they don't need to move out, to be fair they have been very good (NHBC)
Just wondered why everyone says stay with current insurer, have seen a few on internet who will quote supposedly reasonable rates - what she is really frightened of is a thumping increase by the current ins supplier .

huckster

Most Home Insurers won't touch a house that has been underpinned. As soon as you mention it, they will just say no. Some may say that they will look at the risk, if a number of years have gone by after the works and there is no further issue. But they will want a surveyors reports to help them assess the risk.

The existing Insurers if they know a problem has occurred during the period of the policy, will continue to cover the risk, provided they know about it. Hence the advice to tell them about it, even if a claim is being done separately with the NHBC.

Legal & General only ask about subsidence in the last 15 years. Home Protect, Bureau Insurance Services and various other brokers advertise specific schemes for subsidence affected properties. But they will come at a price.

The worst thing to happen is that your daughter just ignorantly arranges cover in the future, without telling Insurers of the underpinning problem. If there was then to be another subsidence issue, the Insurers would decline a claim due to non disclosure. If that were to happen, it would prove to a very costly mistake.

dacouch

huckster wrote: »

Most Home Insurers won't touch a house that has been underpinned. As soon as you mention it, they will just say no. Some may say that they will look at the risk, if a number of years have gone by after the works and there is no further issue. But they will want a surveyors reports to help them assess the risk.

The existing Insurers if they know a problem has occurred during the period of the policy, will continue to cover the risk, provided they know about it. Hence the advice to tell them about it, even if a claim is being done separately with the NHBC.

Legal & General only ask about subsidence in the last 15 years. Home Protect, Bureau Insurance Services and various other brokers advertise specific schemes for subsidence affected properties. But they will come at a price.

The worst thing to happen is that your daughter just ignorantly arranges cover in the future, without telling Insurers of the underpinning problem. If there was then to be another subsidence issue, the Insurers would decline a claim due to non disclosure. If that were to happen, it would prove to a very costly mistake.

Or more likely to happen, when she tries to sell the house, the purchasers solicitor will pick up on the underpinning tng and request confirmation from the existing Insurers that they're aware of the underpinning and are happy to offer cover to the purchaser including subsidence. They will often refuse meaning massive delays and your daughter having to allow a much bigger reduction in the sale price

huckster

dacouch wrote: »

Or more likely to happen, when she tries to sell the house, the purchasers solicitor will pick up on the underpinning tng and request confirmation from the existing Insurers that they're aware of the underpinning and are happy to offer cover to the purchaser including subsidence. They will often refuse meaning massive delays and your daughter having to allow a much bigger reduction in the sale price

Yes that is true.

The same issue happened to a house not far from me. Garage affected by Tree roots. Covered under NHBC. The house sold for about £20k less than similar houses in the same road.

The OP's daughter should look into this, to see if there is any way that she can be compensated for the loss in value. This obviously won't become apparent until she tries to sell the house and the estate agents have to tell people it has been underpinned.

dacouch

huckster wrote: »

Yes that is true.

The same issue happened to a house not far from me. Garage affected by Tree roots. Covered under NHBC. The house sold for about £20k less than similar houses in the same road.

The OP's daughter should look into this, to see if there is any way that she can be compensated for the loss in value. This obviously won't become apparent until she tries to sell the house and the estate agents have to tell people it has been underpinned.

I've seen it numerous times, generally it's client's I used to cover who had claimed for subsidence. They found cover with Saga or the then Fortis who did not have a very strong new business question on Subsidence so offered competitive premiums against an existing Insurer who had paid large subsidence claims. I told the clients of the potential problems but they just saw the bigish saving.

Fortis and Saga realised their mistake but continued to offer renewal, however they would not offer cover to future purchasers.

I would get the old clients back on the phone when the house sale was just about to fail due to the solicitors picking up the previous subsidence. They would contact me wanting to arrange cover with their old company. Without fail the old Insurer would not offer cover as the look on it that they keep their side of the bargain by offering continual cover for previous subsidence customers but if the customer goes elsewhere they have broken the bond / been disloyal and will not offer cover. Most Insurers are pleased when exsubsidence customers go elsewhere as they don't have the increased chance of further subsidence claims.

The only thing I could offer was in the non standard market at a high premium and subject to a structural survey at the customers expense which is not amazingly quick. The customer tends to lose the buyer or have to offer a discount of between £5k and £10k to keep the buyer