Legal & General "unable to renew" insurance

Quentin

The question they usually ask when you apply for insurance is along the lines of "ever had home insurance refused, cancelled,.....ever had special terms imposed to buildings or contents insurance?"

Marksfish

Hmmm, yes I know what they ask, been asked it many times this past few days!! I would have thought (hoped) the answers would be treated differently though? After all, if I lived somewhere that was a high flood risk, I would expect some form of condition to be applied in the event of flood, but if I then moved to somewhere at the top of a hill, in the middle of a desert, I wouldn't expect the flooding conditions that were previously imposed to be an issue. Whereas, if I had a criminal conviction for fraud, that would be bound to be treated differently, surely?

Quentin

The answer is usually a single one (ie they either ask you to declare that you never had a policy cancelled, never had special conditions imposed (and you have), and no-one to be covered has criminal convictions - "yes" or "no" to all)

Most off the peg/online insurers won't quote if you answer "Yes" to any part.

So you will then need to explain the circs.

Marksfish

Yes, I understand that, thanks. Problem is, most don't give you the chance to explain!

That said, I think I am going to revert to brokers again for my insurance needs. All the brokers I have spoken to so far have tried to go the "extra mile" for me, taking time to collate all of the information instead of just ticking a box. I know they don't have the final decision and generally get their quotes from a computer as well, but brokerage seems to be a lot better and competitive now than it was a few years ago.

Thanks for your time.

*Scarlett

The escape of water claim is not the one making an impact on your insurance. Many insurers only want to know about details about claims within 3 years (but do give more discount for additional claim free years).

Even 1 theft claim within the last 12 months can result in a decline to cover for some underwriters.

You might be stuck paying a higher premium for the next couple of years but after that you should probably be able to get mainstream insurance.

What are the conditions that L&G have imposed on the policy? As stated above you will need to disclose this to any future insurers.

I don't agree that special terms are as bad as having your insurance refused / cancelled and being uninsurable. It might be as simple as having upgraded security which many insurers would find acceptable.

Marksfish

The conditions from L&G were (understandably) locks to a certain standard (which I thought they already were, WRONG!!!) and a monitored alarm at this address. As we are hoping to only be here for another month or 2, that is not an avenue for me to go down.

As it happens, the prices I have are not much more than they were with L&G last year before the claims!!

dacouch

They will often allow you a "reasonable" amount of time to get the security upgrade often 28 days. It's not unknown to get further extensions if there are unavoidable delays.

You would need to ask for the grace period.