structural movement non progressive - Please help

welcome2015

Dear All,

We are planning to buy a Semi detached house, did a Home buyer report.

Many points were under category -
"No repair is currently needed. The property must be maintained in the normal way."

So did miss to carry those points to the Estate agent or vendor. Was looking at getting Home and Contents insurance before Exchange, and really worried now for the following point in the survey report. This was also stated under above category.

"There are signs that the property has been affected by past structural movement as evidenced by cracking to the rear elevation. So far as can be seen from this single inspection the movement appears to be longstanding and does not appear to be progressive"

Not sure should I inform this to insurers? Tried mentioning about this in the quote, and it came 4 times expensive and many insurance companies did not even bothered to give a quote.

Called up the surveyor who did the survey, he was in a hurry as it was out of his working hours, but told the same, movement was non progressive and he felt its not required for getting in a Survey engineer.

Worry for me is, Should I select the option stating Structure movement (Expensive quote) or not to(worried about consequences if needed a claim and found out I did not give true information and insurance cancelled or something ? ) while applying for Insurance ?
Please air your views; we are almost nearing to Exchange of contract this week or early next week. Should I get a survey engineer to a survey? Or Walk away from purchase? Or not mention about this to insurance companies? Or mention this to Estate agent and see if something can be done on price? (but still insurance part is confusing me)

Dalfman

I was in the same position a year ago when I bought my house. In short, you have to tell your insurers. Any information you withhold could void any claim in the future as you say.

Yes it does result in only a handful of insurers willing to underwrite the policy and the cost is higher however, after I applied the underwriter asked to see the survey and based on the information provided they were happy to proceed and actually reduced the premium.

I now have 1 years no claims and my premium has fallen and is well within reasonable levels. In my opinion its not worth the risk in not declaring previous structural movement.

Slinky

How big is the crack? I had reference to some cracking on my report, turned out to be across one external brick under a window which certainly wasn't worth mentioning to the insurance. When we had an extension built we got the builders to replace the cracked brick with another of the originals from elsewhere on the building and in 7 years it's been fine.

kingstreet

What question is actually being asked on the insurance application?

Does it ask about movement, or does it ask about subsidence?

These are not two words for the same thing and an incidence of one, doesn't necessarily mean the other.

For example, this is the wording from a Legal & General application;-

In the last 15 years the property to be insured (including outbuildings) has not:

· Been affected by flood

· Been affected by subsidence, heave, landslip or structural damage

· Been underpinned or provided with any other structural support

welcome2015

Dalfman
Thanks for the reply and information.
Slinky
I am not sure , how big is the crack , it shouldnt be really that bad , as Surveyor was telling he did not felt the need of Structural Engineer checks.
kingstreet
The questions were mixed in atleast 2 of the providers, Which states Subsidence, Structural Movement together. So if we select this , it asks for when was the Subsidence happened, which I beleive is not relevant for me ? As its just structural moment .

I called couple of Insurers and they said is if the crack happened before 25 years ,either I have to confirm that or get Structural engineer say that then I need not check the option or mention about crack ,else I need to say YES for Structural moment. I informed my estate agent ,he told me to wait until he gets some info from seller. Started looking to get a structural engineer too.So if any one can receomment someone,would be great.He should be qualified and his certificate should be accepted by Insurers.

kingstreet

Speak to a broker.

In such cases, I've submitted a copy of the valuer's report to the insurer and got confirmation before making an application they'd accept at standard rates and that the cover would meet the lender's requirements under CML 6.14.2.

Don't start commissioning engineer's reports until absolutely necessary. You may also find online/comparison sites are not the best place to try to buy such cover if you aren't the round peg for the round hole they are looking for.

If you need one;-

http://www.findanengineer.com/

Choose "surveying:domestic property" for your area.

welcome2015

kingstreet
You meanspeak to a Mortgage broker ? But I am bit worried even if I get away currently , will this same issue cause trouble when I get this property for sale ?(although no sale ideas in near future , but still ?) Or am I wrong in saying this ?
And you yourself are a Mortgage broker ? then could you help me ?

kingstreet

Anyone who arranges buildings & contents insurance should be able to square this away for you.

It's only comparison sites and their desire to grab the "low-hanging fruit" of the easy cases which make many people think this is the only way to buy insurance.

TBH a lot of the stuff at the top of comparison sites is stripped bare cover and full of admin and cancellation fees. Trace & access cover (eg) is probably one of the most important of the benefits that's been stripped away.

We work only on a face to face basis in our area and don't look for new clients on here, so ask friends and relatives for a recommendation.

welcome2015

kingstreet
Sure I understand that. I will check with a broker. But as far as I spoken with the Insurers directly , either I need to confirm or a Structural Engineer has to confirm that the moment happend before 25 years and then it should be fine.Else I need to pay the high premium.
And what about while selling this property, feel this will come back again and create issues ?

_gav_

We had exactly the same when we moved into our house 15 years ago. You have to declare it to the insure companies as others have said and bang, there goes any option to use the comparison sites.
When speaking to the various insurance companies, the only solution that they could offer was to engage a structural engineer, but the minute you go down that route, you have to tell insurers that as well!! You're stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Instead I used a broker, had to send through the various structural reports and got a better policy which didn't cost anymore!

Contact a good insurance broker and I'm sure they'll sort it out.

kingstreet

welcome2015 wrote: »

kingstreet
Sure I understand that. I will check with a broker. But as far as I spoken with the Insurers directly , either I need to confirm or a Structural Engineer has to confirm that the moment happend before 25 years and then it should be fine.Else I need to pay the high premium.
And what about while selling this property, feel this will come back again and create issues ?

It isn't a problem now! It just needs the right approach.

Long-standing non-progressive movement has been around for hundreds of years and has been little or no issue to anyone until internet comparison sites came along.