Buildings Insurance Subsidence Dilemma

Lady_K

I did not renew my buildings insurance due to financial problems and plan to get it sorted asap. Today at a visit to the mortgage society reg a mortgage review they asked about my buildings insurance cover... I had to admit to not having cover at the mo... they were concerned and stated that it was against the law not to have buildings insurance. They went on to tell me that they will need to see the policy either once I have it or before I have it(cant rem which)so they can see if I have suitable insurance cover.

Problem is, I live in an old mining town and like almost every house in this town it has old subsidence damage, no underpinning or anything but the owner before me apparently claimed £8.000 in around 1987.

During this mortgage review they insisted I have a quote for buildings cover and when they asked me about previous subsidence or landslip I said yes... well it's true even though there is unlikely to be any further problem with it as its settled. This resulted on what I think is a high insurance premium and one I can't afford it started at about £350 for very basic cover, just buildings and no accidental damage. Its just a 3 bed semi and the last cover I had for this property was £89.83 in 2002. The local broker that covered me for that and previous years always told me to say no to the sudsidence question because I would not get cover otherwise... so I just went with his advice. I only ever had one claim with it and that was for a leak from the boiler in the roof and they paid up no problem so the subsidence question didnt pose any prob there

Now I'm worried that because I told the mortgage society about the subsidence that I will only be able to get cover including allowance for subsidence even though I won't end up going through them because they want to see the policy anyway, will they check that out? I was going to go back to my original broker and say no to the subsidence thing again. The subsidence is old and settled and not going to be a problem or else the entire town would be collapsing

I think they have refused to allow my mortgage tracker change untill they have proof I have got insurance cover too as they have locked my account. I don't mind getting cover I know I have to have it but I just can't afford that amount

dougk_2

Its not against the law not to have building cover, however it will be against the terms and conditions of your mortgage.

I would try an insurance broker or two (try yellow pages) for quotes. Also you can try online brokers.

You MUST tell them about the subsidence (give as much detail as poss) as your cover will be invalid if you do not and if you make a claim they will not pay out.

Perhaps some of the brokers and mortgage advisors on this forum will give you advice/quotes if you ask them.

Lady_K

OK... Oh dear... Do you think they have locked my account though because of my insurance situation then? I can't rem everything they said in the review meeting

I know if I didn't declare the previous subsidence that it would be void if anything happened due to subsidence, but when I was covered without subsidence declared I had that claim with the loft and ceiling and there was no problem. Plus whats crazy is that halifax never allowed for that themselves when they originally started me off with them for buildings cover even though the house was brought through thier estate agents and mortgage set up with them it was as no subsidence and then when I moved to another company for cover they wanted to ok the new policy before it went through and that again was with no subsidence cover, they checked it, agreed it, without subsidence declared and it was that way for a few years. Only now has this problem arose, unfortunately, but I'll get some quotes as soon as poss I know I need the cover no matter what

Lady_K

If there are any insurance brokers on here interested in giving me a quote, if so please drop me a pm or a reply here

Ive found the all the insurance policy details from all the years since i brought the house and its right halifax did not allow for subsidence on the property so they let that run for years till i swapped cover. I do realise thouggh that I will need the full cover allowing for subsidence though because how could i rest if i didnt. I just hope its not too bad and any access wont be too high. Having said that Ive only ever had one claim in the 13 years i was covered

dwarfer01

Hi Lady_K

I have a very similar problem to you, its so frustraiting and worrying isnt it? This is my post:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=40254

We still dont have a resolution, when we spoke to a broker they wanted a civil engineers report before they would quote us but we cant afford to have one done. Who did you get your quote with? We also wondered about getting cover and not informing them of the subsidence (as it was put down as an accident on the old insurance forms which have now lapsed) if we cant sort things out with Zurich. Its so worrying to be in this situation so if anyone can help us out there please?

Lady_K

I've just got off the phone with a broker and the coal authority. The broker advised me to have a mining report done to clear everything up once and for all. I rang the mining report dep and they looked up details on my address and said previos owners had 2 claims and its better that I try to avoid the mining report as it could escalate things to wanting investigations into what the claims were for and as there is no proof of whether the work was carried out or not it could lead to a structural survey on the house... omg this is just getting worse and the reason I didnt renew my insurance in the first place was through financial problems now its leading to even more cost

Now the coal authority are sending me a letter saying that they will be liable for any damage on the property arising from new mining subsidence as he said a lot of companies are usually ok with that so try that first

I dont know how I stand legally because its against th terms and conditions of my mortage provider that I have no buildings insurance at the moment I'm really worried about what possition I'm in because of this

The claims were made something like 25 years ago and mines were closed years and years ago

Sorry to hear you have problems too dwarfer01

dwarfer01

Lady_K which broker did you use, could you recommend them to me?

Lady_K

Well I don't know if the area matters but it's one in Nottingham but as yet nothings sorted so far but ill send you the phone number in pm if its any use

These brokers did tell me to get the report until I rang the coal board myself and was warned that doing that may cause the problems wrote above adding to more cost maybe so I'd just say be a bit careful though

dwarfer01

Thanks a lot for that. It sounds like the Brokers in Nottingham would say the same to me about getting the engineers report. I think we will keep on at Zurich for the time being and see what happens.

Hope you get something sorted out for yourself - good luck, Ill be thinking of you.

jstallan

How about trying Norwich Union Direct ? They didn't 'load' our premium but they did increase the excess....

Lady_K

Thanx

I went to the brokers today with an old mining report from when I brought the house and the letter from the coal board. They have applied to zurich and faxed the documents to them for me but I have to wait till Monday before they will get back to the brokers apparently. Anyway I didn't ask about the access but that is a point and something I'll watch for. They said there were a couple of companies that they thought would cover me but applied to zurich first.

Does the extra access only apply when you have a claim for actual subsidence related claims or for any claim to do with the buildings?