urgent help needed!!! exchanged contract - can't get building insurance!!!

flora48

Try Adrian Flux

josievg

Sorry to hijack your post Gemma, I hope you get your insurance sorted and I will follow this thread to see outcome - especially if I need to change my insurance company!

Your post has concerned me because my survey said something similar but I didn't equate it with subsidence. I can't recall but I presume our insurance company asked us whether our house had suffered subsidence and, if so, we would have said no.

I thought all old houses would have moved slightly but this doesn't mean the dreaded 's' word. Am I wrong?

My survey (Building Survey, not Homebuyers Report) says ...

"There are signs that the Property has been affected by past structural movement as evidenced by the slightly sloping floors and one or two cracked sills. So far as can be seen from this single inspection the movement appears to be longstanding. We would not expect it to be progressive, beyond acceptable tolerances."

I thought this kind of paragraph was normal for a house that's more than 200 years old. Should I have told our insurance company about it? What does anyone think? Thanks in advance.

gemma.zhang

this is what i thought initiallly.. obviously not the case.
Once you read this out to the lender, they will say no straight away.
...

gemma.zhang

Please anyone could suggest a insurer willing cover without the need to do structure report ? I don't mind paying a bit extra to ensure the completion is on time.

I will give those insurers a call tomorrow to ask too!
Thanks massively in advance!

ABN

You should have insurance in place at the time of exchange.

Once contracts are exchanged the property is yours effectively. Should it flood / burn down you still have to buy it.

So sooner rather than later is the name of the game. Maybe you can get either a temp insurance or one that excludes subsidence.

DannyboyMidlands

josievg wrote: »

Sorry to hijack your post Gemma, I hope you get your insurance sorted and I will follow this thread to see outcome - especially if I need to change my insurance company!

Your post has concerned me because my survey said something similar but I didn't equate it with subsidence. I can't recall but I presume our insurance company asked us whether our house had suffered subsidence and, if so, we would have said no.

I thought all old houses would have moved slightly but this doesn't mean the dreaded 's' word. Am I wrong?

My survey (Building Survey, not Homebuyers Report) says ...

"There are signs that the Property has been affected by past structural movement as evidenced by the slightly sloping floors and one or two cracked sills. So far as can be seen from this single inspection the movement appears to be longstanding. We would not expect it to be progressive, beyond acceptable tolerances."

I thought this kind of paragraph was normal for a house that's more than 200 years old. Should I have told our insurance company about it? What does anyone think? Thanks in advance.

You are right.

Movement is not the same as subsidence. Every building ever built has moved to some degree.

If they asked you about subsidence then you were right to say no.

josievg

Thanks DannyboyMidlands. However, I've discovered that they ask about 'structural movement' as well as subsidence.

It wasn't actually a question but an 'assumption' that goes with the insurance. The assumption says ...

"Has not been affected by subsidence or structural movement and is not in an area subject to subsidence"

So, it appears we should have told them about the structural movement when we took out the insurance.

Our renewal is due next week and I have read them the paragraph from the survey report with the upshot being we no longer have buildings insurance. Even worse, our contents insurance has gone for a burton too.

I'm going to contact a local Broker to see what they can come up with and I'll report back for Gemma. Gemma - let me know if you find an insurer in the meantime. Thanks

josievg

Hi Gemma,

How are you getting on?

I have spoken to Home Protect and emailed them a copy of our Building Survey. Waiting to hear whether that is sufficient or if they require Structural Engineer's Report to be done.

Local broker will get back to me tomorrow so no news on that front.

Will update if I am successful in obtaining insurance.

Starting to wish I didn't read your original message!

josievg

I had the same problem and told them we don't know if it's in the last 25 years - just 'past' and 'longstanding' but survey doesn't state if this is more than 25 years ago.

Ours got passed to the underwriters at the end of the phone call who asked for a copy of the survey and may want a structural engineer's report.

If you have a quote that's good. Except what do you think is incorrect in the fact sheet that you need to correct afterwards?

SuzieSue

Gemma, why don't you just ask the people that you are buying from who they are insured with?