House underpinned ,renewel due?

JMW77

Hi,

My house insurance has been going up steadily every year , this year yet another £50 has been added .

When we bought the house it had a history of being underpinned though subsidence was mentioned in the paperwork the previous owners argued with the insurers the house had not suffered subsidence.

In fact no cause was ever established a neighbours tree was suspected though this was not confirmed this is basically what i established from paperwork i have read.

Anyway the house was underpinned because a wall near the house collapsed and as this wall was close to the house this is why the edge of the house got underpinned .

I stayed with the original insurer the previous owners used because of this but constant increases have made me want to shop around
but clearly i am going to get high quotes just at the mention of subsidence..

All paperwork said possible subsidence.

Anyone think its worth shopping around ?

Yorkie1

How long ago was the underpinning?

Have there been any signs of movement since?

JMW77

We have lived here 10 years and no movement everything is fine as far as we are aware.

JMW77

It was underpinned possibly 13- 15 years ago i think definatley a few years before we moved in.

Sponge

Axa only ask if you've suffered within the last 10 years. So get a quote from them and say 'No' to subsidence!

I'm insured with M&S and they're underwritten by Axa, so also have the 'within 10 years' question.

I believe you can get cashback for M&S too. (£40)

I've seen it mentioned on MSE that L&G ask about such things within 15 years.

:money:

dacouch

Sponge wrote: »

Axa only ask if you've suffered within the last 10 years. So get a quote from them and say 'No' to subsidence!

I'm insured with M&S and they're underwritten by Axa, so also have the 'within 10 years' question.

I believe you can get cashback for M&S too. (£40)

I've seen it mentioned on MSE that L&G ask about such things within 15 years.

:money:

dacouch wrote: »

I remember Saga and the then Fortis asking a very similar question some years ago.

A lot of my customers who had subsidence and had been renewing with the Insurer who paid out for the underpinning were tempted away against my advice.

I had most of them ringing me desperate for cover asap when they were on the verge of completing sales as their buyer had tried to transfer their policy to their name and the Insurers had refused.

The Insurers had realised they had taken on a lot of underpinned properties and had received some hefty further subsidence claims and decided to withdraw. They discover the clients who had previous underpinning then the house completion is about to happen and use this as a way of getting rid of the business.

The ex clients expected the original Insurer to offer cover but they always laugh and say they were prepared to continue offering cover forever but as the client had not repaid with loyalty they were not interested in offering cover (Insurers don't like underpinned properties).

The only options open were the specialised Insurers, who will normally want to perform a survey and then calculate a premium based on this. This can take a few weeks and the premiums are high so it throws a massive spanner in the works.

Something to think about, Axa and L&G have only just started offering cover, they may or may not stay in the market but you need to take it into account

Please read the above

FlameCloud

dacouch wrote: »

Please read the above

Sadly most won't bother. People are too concerned with the headline rate to stay with an insurer for years.

dacouch

FlameCloud wrote: »

Sadly most won't bother. People are too concerned with the headline rate to stay with an insurer for years.

I had circa 20 subsidence customers that left for an Insurer who'd just changed the wording of the question on the subsidence questions.

Major headaches for them as it arises when they're selling their house, a few had to offer large extra discounts to keep the sale and some of the others had buyers drop out

*Scarlett

You could try

http://www.homeprotect.co.uk/property-condition/underpinned-propertyhttp:

//www.adrianflux.co.uk/underpinned/http:/

EdGasket

I found no-one was interested in insuring my house for subsidence, heave or landslip once the subsidence had been 'repaired to the required standards'. I now have cheap insurance but no cover at all for subsidence. Crazy state of the insurance market; they do not trust their own repairs.

Captain_Shambolic

I know Aviva have insured properties with subsidence, some have declined and some have had lengthy clauses written in (usually stating they won't cover ANY claim that involves a whiff of subsidence). That said their questioning was 'any subsidence at your property or in the immediate area' and that question doesn't have a time frame.