Insurance during extension

pledgeX

I got my buildings and contents insurance renewal documents through today and noticed that one of the assumptions is that there is no building work occurring on the property. I did a quick bit of googling and it looks like this is a common caveat that all policies have.

I'm about to have a small extension built that will last ~8 weeks. I know there are specialist insurance providers that will provide cover, but tbh I'm quite happy to take the risk.

What I want to know is if I were to take out insurance now, get the building work done, and say in 6 months time have a completely unrelated problem, would I be ok to claim or will my policy be null and void if they somehow found out about the building work?

System

the builder should have insurance to cover the works for the duration of the contract period - you usually only have to notify your insurance company of works and provide a copy of the contract and builders insurance iirc

DRP

We notified our insurance company and the premiums went up a nominal amount for the duration of the build.

They asked us to check the builder's insurance, but didn't require a copy.

Annie1960

my insurance Co. asked me to check the builder's insurance. they also want me to notify them when the work finishes. they said it's no problem unless it goes on for months longer than expected. your architect should tell you that you need to talk to your insurance Co. about extension work, as well as mortgage Co. and party wsll agreement if relevant.

SuzieSue

pledgeX wrote: »

I'm about to have a small extension built that will last ~8 weeks. I know there are specialist insurance providers that will provide cover, but tbh I'm quite happy to take the risk.

So if your house burnt down while the building work was going on your insurance company would not pay out. Are you really prepared to take that risk?

Rain_Shadow

SuzieSue wrote: »

So if your house burnt down while the building work was going on your insurance company would not pay out. Are you really prepared to take that risk?

Are you prepared to back that up with any evidence?

SuzieSue

Rain_Shadow wrote: »

Are you prepared to back that up with any evidence?

The OP said that his insurance documents say that he is only covered as long as there is no building work going on. I can only assume he is telling the truth as I have not seen the documents for myself.

My insurance company requires me to tell them before I have any building work carried out so I will not be covered if I do not inform them.

pledgeX

Thanks for all the advice folks. I gave the insurer a ring just now and they have confirmed what most of you have said. There's no changes to my premium, I just need to check my builder's insurance.

They said that there are a few exclusions that will be in place while the building work is going on, but it all seems fair and understandable, e.g. break ins that occur due to builder not securing the property would not be covered and, if the builder drops a brick on my TV that wouldn't be covered. That sort of thing would be down to my builder's insurance. Anything that is not related to the building work is still covered as normal.

SuzieSue wrote: »

So if your house burnt down while the building work was going on your insurance company would not pay out. Are you really prepared to take that risk?

No of course not. I should have been clearer in that I had assumed that if the builder burnt my house down, it would be covered by my builder's insurance, not by mine. I wouldn't expect my insurer to cover 'extra' risk.