living next door

mypartner_next_door

I have bought the house next door to my partner,initially with the idea of making it into 1 big house(will be 5 bed detatched eventually on a private road with similar large houses so fits well in the area)We now dont want to go through the legal loopholes of joining mortgages etc as it is working well with a large area in the adjoining hallways knocked through and the landing knocked through upstairs.My problem is I contacted my insurance company who said that unless we declare the house as 1 with the land registry etc they could not insure my side as it is open to my partners side and if anything happened(eg he got burgled and they entered my side) I would not be covered .
Can anyone advise me on how to effectively insure both addresses.Thanks

huckster

Keep them separate and Insure them separately. Live between the two and let each other have their own space when either want this. Sounds pretty ideal to me. Why join them into one house, unless you are committed to joining everything together.

You seem to want an ideal world. Separate, but joined together. I can't think of a way of doing this. Neither Insurers, your local authority or mortgage company, will be happy having communal doors between the two separate houses.

Dangermac

mypartner_next_door wrote: »

I have bought the house next door to my partner,initially with the idea of making it into 1 big house(will be 5 bed detatched eventually on a private road with similar large houses so fits well in the area)We now dont want to go through the legal loopholes of joining mortgages etc as it is working well with a large area in the adjoining hallways knocked through and the landing knocked through upstairs.My problem is I contacted my insurance company who said that unless we declare the house as 1 with the land registry etc they could not insure my side as it is open to my partners side and if anything happened(eg he got burgled and they entered my side) I would not be covered .
Can anyone advise me on how to effectively insure both addresses.Thanks

If the insurance policy is in joint names, that should get rid of the insurance treating the other side as being in 3rd party control.

It is worth mentioning to the insurer that half of the building is owned by one Insured, and the other half owned by the other Insured.

From an insurance perspective, if the policy is set up correctly, it shouldnt be a massive problem, but full disclosure is best. Might be best speaking with a broker.

DM

huckster

Dangermac

While what you saying is perfectly true that they can Insure jointly both properties under one policy, I am not sure the OP realises the pitfalls in the current arrangements. Re-reading what they have said, they have already joined the houses.

1) This would against the terms of both current mortgages and if they found out, then no doubt legal action would be considered. It would be a case of pay off the mortgage or put the houses back as they were within x no. of days.

2) They would need local authority building control consent to join the properties. There would probably need to be a reassessment in regard to council tax. Doing what they have done, may lead to legal action from the local authority.

3) If they suffer a breakdown in their relationship, this could turn into a bit of a nightmare.

4) If anything unfortunate were to happen to either of them, this would cause their next of kins an absolute nightmare to sort out.

Hence the advice, to either arrange things on a proper basis or to keep the properties separate.

Dangermac

huckster wrote: »

Dangermac

While what you saying is perfectly true that they can Insure jointly both properties under one policy, I am not sure the OP realises the pitfalls in the current arrangements. Re-reading what they have said, they have already joined the houses.

1) This would against the terms of both current mortgages and if they found out, then no doubt legal action would be considered. It would be a case of pay off the mortgage or put the houses back as they were within x no. of days.

2) They would need local authority building control consent to join the properties. There would probably need to be a reassessment in regard to council tax. Doing what they have done, may lead to legal action from the local authority.

3) If they suffer a breakdown in their relationship, this could turn into a bit of a nightmare.

4) If anything unfortunate were to happen to either of them, this would cause their next of kins an absolute nightmare to sort out.

Hence the advice, to either arrange things on a proper basis or to keep the properties separate.

You're 100% correct and your points are very good.

I was solely responding from an insurance perspective.

OP - Huckster's points are very much taking note of

DM