Insurer found subsidence claim on my house - not disclosed

clare_73

Hi All,

Yesterday I went through the process of getting buildings and contents insurance from another provider after my existing insurance with Nationwide went up 25%.

On arranging insurance with Hastings Direct, they ran a search on previous insurance claims and found a subsidence claim on the property from 2006 for £1300. They asked for more info re: this claim before giving me a quote, which of course I don't have.

As you can tell from this post, I knew nothing of the claim. The survey didn't flag anything, the solicitors didn't find anything (or look), and the previous owner obviously lied on the homeowners questionnaire. I am livid, but need to think practically - any advice/guidance much appreciated.

- is it worth raising with the solicitors / trying to contact the previous owner? I have no forwarding address, and I doubt she'd reply anyway.

- how do I find out more about the claim? Apparently the database is only shared amongst insurance companies, not individuals.

- I know this will affect my insurance - the claim amount indicates cosmetic damage, and I see no evidence of (relatively) recent works, but what are the best first steps? If I contact more companies and mention the S word, alarm bells will go off - however not being upfront might invalidate any insurance I arrange.

For my own piece of mind I think I will get a structural engineer in to inspect the property which I will have to save up for (there are several trees in the garden close to the house, all inspected and tree reports paid for when I bought the house) it is likely that any subsidence/movement is a result of tree roots, which is my I'm annoyed it was not discovered in the buying process.

Any advice/insights most welcome!!

Mungo76

£1300 sounds like investigation fees.

Possibly why the surveyor found nothing as there was nothing, or nothing to be worried about.

This could also mean that the vendor did nothing wrong in not disclosing it.

2006 was a different time, folks weren't so savvy about effects on premiums if you made a claim (making a claim rather than having a successful claim), it was not abnormal to ask the insurer to investigate.

You can get your own engineer in but it might not resolve the subs issue.

Your Hastings and the like will always run scared, you need to go to a high street broker who will talk to the underwriters, sit down and chat through the options.

Keep_pedalling

If there had been a real claim for subsidence, it would have been for a hell of a lot more than £1,300 even in 2006.

clare_73

Thanks - yes I guess this is a case of being suddenly confronted with emerging insurer practices and their access to information - it does set alarm bells off though when you hear subsidence!