subsidence

evosy1978

hello all

can anyone tell me if there are any insurance companies which specify in houses with a history of subsidence.

thanks

mattymoo

First port of call would be the insurer who dealt with any subsidence claim on the property. They know the property history and should have carried out works to prevent further movement.

If there is no previous insurer or you cannot find the details, you will have major problems. Other insurers may be willing to give you cover for other perils (fire, flood etc) but will exclude subsidence.

maclean2

Hi - I agree entirely that the first approach should be to the present or past insurance company but there ia a specialist firm who will look at insuring subsidence affected houses.They are

https://www.bureauinsure.co.uk

They have been around for a few years now so appear reputable and well established.As you will see they ask you to pay around £150 for an initial survey.

Lady_K

I live in an old mining town and my house has old subsidence. For years I took my brokers advice and ticked no subsidence as they said I wouldnt get cover otherwise. I never claimed anyway so nothing was ever queried.

I then was ill and didnt renew my buildings cover or contents for 4 yrs (I must have been crazy)

Then I went to my mortgage company for a review and it came up in the meeting that I hadnt got buildings cover and that it had old subsidence, I was then commited to getting cover as a subsidence effected house. They were horrified that I'd been without cover for so long and told me I was breaking the terms and conditions of the mortgage and I had to get cover within 2 weeks. I found it very difficult to get cover unless I wanted to pay extortionate prices which I couldnt afford it.

The previous owner of my house had a claim from the coal board for the subsidence, I have recieved nothing. I had to produce a letter from the coal authority stating this is old subsidence and a plan and dates of the mine works in the area stating they are not going to be re-opened and that supporting beams were in place underground.

I ended up with zurich they were the only ones that would take me and they werent as expensive as some of the others but the excess was £50 on an ordinary claim and £5000 on any subsidence claim. Second year it actually dropped for no claims discount but this year it went up massively without any reasonable explanation from them by my brokers. I don't normally use brokers for insurances but in this case with the subsidence it is the best way to go in my opinion youl struggle otherwise and they can negociate.

I was really worried as I knew the trouble I had getting cover in the first place but my broker got me on with MMA they are only available through brokers and the cover is better than the one with zurich as thiers was very basic. I then asked for a contents quote and that was really reasonable too so I have both with them.

I noticed looking for contents insurance that the subsidence does effect that too, I suppose because they are in a building that is classed as higher risk.

Anyway try MMA they just wanted a copy of the same documents that I sent to zurich but they were half the price that zurich were asking.

evosy1978

thanks for replies folks.

Ive since found out that the subsidence has not been declared by the previous owner on his insurance.

Im gonna try that website posted above.

What kind of survey will be done by the insurance company? Will they determine whether any work needs doing etc. And will they definately take me on.?

thanks

mattymoo

Full structural survey (at your expense I suspect). If the survey throws up issues they may request bore holes to be drilled to check foundation depth.

Depending on the results, you may need to have rectification work done before they will consider cover. Example include fixing broken drains or having trees checked by an arboroculturalist. Chopping trees down is not always the solution.