Buildings Insurance cover

househunt

Hi everyone,

I've got a quote for my building insurance for the property I'm going to purchase. The cover will start on day of exchange. But one thing I'm not clear is that do I need to take out the cover for the whole year or just a few days until I complete and then have to renew it?

D_M_E

It's your choice but if it were me I would insure for a year from the date of exchange of contracts and add contents insurance on completion - or even include it when taking out buildings insurance - that way, there's one less thing to do for another year.

househunt

That's great D_M_E. The only reason I asked this question was because I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't going to end up with the wrong type of cover since between exchange and completion I was not going to be living there.


Thanks again

househunt

Sorry to post here again as I a bit stressed as I'm not sure if I'm doing this correctly. My home insurance for my current address is due for renewal on 20/05/16. My solicitor says that I'll need to take out buildings insurance for the new address from date of exchange.

I've contacted my insurer for a quote, however, they've advised that since I've already got building insurance, I don't need to take out a full years cover or pay anything extra and that once I know the exchange & completion date, to call them and they will cover me (It's called an ENDORSEMENT???).

My worry is that assuming I exchange on the 10th May and complete on 18th May, what if banks take a look and see that I'm only covered until the 20th may??? Can they stop it completing because the policy expires within two days after completion...i.e. it's too early?

What shall I do?

D_M_E

I myself had what you describe a few years ago and it turned out that the exchanged-on property was NOT covered by the endorsement. That is why I now always take out a new extra policy for the new address whenever I exchange, just to be safe.

Talk to your broker again and make sure the endorsement actually does cover the exchanged-on property then, when completion does take place, you are no longer responsible for insuring your old address so at that point talk to your broker again and get your existing policy transferred so that it now covers your new address - there would probably be a fee for this or it may even be cheaper to cancel the existing policy and take out a new one, that's for you to decide, ask your broker which would be better.

househunt

Thanks D_M_E, When you say a broker, are you talking about an insurance broker or a mortgage broker?

D_M_E

In this instance I'm talking about an INSURANCE broker since it's buildings insurance you want - the mortgage broker has the job of finding you someone with lots of money they are willing to lend you.

Some mortgage brokers will also arrange insurance for you as well but I prefer to get that from someone or somewhere that does only insurance.

househunt

Okay, but in this case I'm talking directly to a team leader from Esure Insurance. He is the one whom advised that I don't need to pay any money as I'm still covered under the current policy (which expires on 20th May) and that once I give Esure the exchange and completion dates, not only will my new address will be covered (under Endorsement), but at the same time my current address under the same policy. Once I complete/move then my address will be changed on their system and by then I will have to pay a renewal quote.

I hope this makes sense.