Insurance History of my Home

rs65

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Dont see the point of what?

I don't see the point of going the avenue of asking an individual who you seem to think is hiding behind a limited company and may get shirty.

329002

Ok, quick update. Contacted the vendor and he said he was completely unaware of any movement or history of movement or claims or anything. He was helpful and got back to me quickly but had no information. I've now been told by two insurance companies that I'll need to get a structural survey before I can be insured against subsidence as there just isn't enough information. Been quoted 220 pounds so my next step seems to be getting that money together so I can start to move forward...

InsideInsurance

rs65 wrote: »

I don't see the point of going the avenue of asking an individual who you seem to think is hiding behind a limited company and may get shirty.

As I may be wrong and he may be a genuine person

vaio

rs65 wrote: »

........Anyway, the question you are being asked doesn’t sound right as not many people could be expected to know if any claims had been made on a property in the last 25 years – unless it is qualified to say ‘to the best of your knowledge’ or the like.......

but surely all questions essentially have "to the best of my knowledge" implied particularly if the people asking the questions, who as an industry, will have the information required to answer fully, choose not to make that information available

rs65 wrote: »

........Usual questions are more like – have you made any claims – has your home ever suffered from subsidence – has your home ever been underpinned or had foundation repair........

If the house has been underpinned etc then it should have been done under the supervision of Building Control so local council might be a good starting point

329002

Contacted the council - they told me they have 'no records of your property recorded'. Their database goes back to 1994 so they've put me in touch with the local history centre which has older archives.

If it is the case that no work has ever been done in the past for movement then I'm really tempted to take out a fresh policy and just click 'no' when it says 'any history of movement, heave or subsidence?' My concern is that if I have to claim in the future they may be able to access my valuation report, the only document I have which suggests any movement, and deny my claim. The exact wording of the valuation report is 'the property has suffered previous movement but no signs to suggest this is ongoing'.

I'll persevere with the history centre for now. I really want to be fully insured and obviously I want to avoid costs. My next plan of action after the history centre is either the idea detailed above or paying for the full structural survey - anyone have any ideas? This forum continues to be my most helpful source of information on this matter...

rs65

vaio wrote: »

but surely all questions essentially have "to the best of my knowledge" implied particularly if the people asking the questions, who as an industry, will have the information required to answer fully, choose not to make that information available

I'm not sure all insurers subscribe to CUE so the information may not be available to all/any insurer.

Some questions are absolute answers, such as do you have any convictions, but I would agree that some are 'best of your knowledge'. Insurers wouldn't expect anyone to make enquiries will all previous owners of a house to see if any claims had been made. Even if you got hold of them all, any answers cannot be confirmed so you still end up with 'best knowledge'.

OP, tens of thousands of houses show historical signs of movement. A structural survey is an option but a cheaper first route would be to get the surveyor to expand on their report.

329002

Thanks. I guess 'to the best of my knowledge' I do feel that the house has suffered previous movement, based on that sentence in my valuation report, so I can't tick 'no' on the website because if anything were to happen in the future and the insurance company knew about the valuation report they could claim that I'd been dishonest on my application (would insurers have access to this report?)

So, for now, the next step is contact the surveyor to see if I can get more details. The quest continues!

329002

After many attempts to contact the surveyor I finally got this response:

"This is not something we are able to comment on – you will need to speak with the insurers to establish what their requirements are.
The online applications are very good but only really cater for the most straightforward things so it would be best to telephone and speak to an adviser who can give you the correct guidance on this"

So, the insurers are telling me to speak to the surveyor and the surveyor is telling me to speak to the insurers. It looks like the structural survey will have to be my next action. I'm so strapped for cash, stressed and worried about the whole thing it's driving me mad. The cracks upstairs are getting bigger. One door no longer closes. The windows at the front of the house make a 'pop' sound every five minutes. One exterior crack runs onto my neighbour's property. I really feel I've bought a disaster of a house through my niavety and not getting the full survey. I'm finding it hard to sleep trying to sort this out. Considering taking my wife's name off the mortage so if the whole thing collapses uninsured it will only be myself that's completely financially ruined.

rs65

I thought you were talking about historic subsidence. This is happening now?

Have you ever had subsidence cover?

Get a structural engineer out.

329002

Well I thought I was. When I first moved in there were no cracks and just the statement of historic movement on my valuation. I've been here 9 months now and in that time several cracks have appeared, as described. The place was newly decorated when I moved in. I can't help but feel now that they'd covered up any visible damage to achieve the sale. In 9 months multiple cracks have appeared. I had subsidence cover until I contacted More Than about three months into the policy to tell them what it said on the valuation survey. They took subsidence cover off the policy and I'm now finding it impossible to get insured against subsidence - all still based on the statement in the survey. It seems I need to get the engineer out and then assess my situation from there...