Subsidence/Underpinning

saligee

We had our bungalow underpinned last year. This year our insurers, Pearl, have increased our buildings and contents insurance by £200 to just over £500.

I have phoned around, and nobody will quote because we have had subsidence. It seems we have to stick with Pearl.

I intend to call Pearl and ask them to see if they can reduce the premium a bit, but they have us right where they want us. They obviously want to recoup their money.

Our only lever is to take our contents insurance business elsewhere.
OR we could insure for everything except subsidence. Probably a safe bet!

Does anyone have any advice please?

Thanks
saligee

Oscar_The_Grouch

Hi there.

You need to ask your insurers to provide you with the certificate from the structural engineer to confirm that their actions have corrected the subsidence in your home. Once you have that, you should be in a position to obtain alternative quotes for your cover.

There is a nice little piece of "insurer agreement" called the "Domestic Subsidence Agreement". What this says (in very basic terms) is:

If you discover subsidence damage within the forst 8 weeks of a new policy, your LAST insurer deals with the claim.

Up to 1 year after the new policy starts, your CURRENT insurer deals with the claim and could recover 50% of the costs from the previous insurer.

Beyond that, your curent insurer foots the bill!.

This is a bit simplistic, but covers the basics.

The big problem you have is that without the certificate to confirm stability from the structural engineer, you are completely swtuffed, because all the reputable insurers will tell you to stay where you are.

I'm going a bit round in circles here, but the point is that if you are not sure, then STAY WITH YOUR CURRENT INSURER!!

Sorry to cost you money!

ShowmetheMoney

I have taken this from a post I made some time ago - I hope it helps you...

When it comes to subsidence, insurers have a "gentlemans agreement" that they will each continue to insure existing policyholders, whose properties have history of subsidence. They will not take on new properties with previous subsidence.
When you come to sell your property, the prospective purchaser will almost certainly need to take out a policy with your insurer - make sure they are aware of this as any mortgage provider will require subsidence cover to be in force.
If the subsidence occurred some time ago (i.e. 20 yrs) and an up to date survey states no recent subsidence, then you may be able to change insurer.
If someone finds themselves in position where there is no insurer (e.g. insurer gone bust or property bought at auction and therefore no details of previous insurer) then there are specialist insurers out there who may be able to help.
Advice for everyone - do not exclude subsidence cover in order to save money because if your property subsequently suffers subsidence, not only will you have to foot the bill (potentially hundreds of thousands) but you may find it extremely difficult to obtain subsidence insurance in future, therefore making home potentially impossible to sell.

You may also find more info on the website for ABI - Association of British Insurers

saligee

Thanks to both "ShowmetheMoney" and "Oscar The Grouch".

I have since seen lots of stuff about this subject on this forum - I should have checked first.

We do have a certificate from the structual engineers, and fortunately for us we have no intention of moving, so that problem will be a long way into the future (hopefully), or for our benefactors to deal with.

At a rate of £200 extra per month, it will take Pearl over 6 years to recoup the cost of our underpinning. Good luck to 'em I say! Although I'm still inclined to insure the contents elsewhere.

What I find ironic, is that our property is now probably more sound than our next door neighbours', but more difficult to sell! :rotfl:

Jonbvn

Hi,

There is an insurer who will consider previously underpinned properties (PUPs). Details here.

HTH.

mattymoo

saligee wrote: »

OR we could insure for everything except subsidence. Probably a safe bet!

If you have a mortgage on the property it is likely to be a condition that subsidence cover is in place.

jstallan

We discovered that 25 yrs ago, our property had been underpinned. We advised our insurer (Norwich Union direct) who said that Subsidence Excess will increase from £1000 to £5000, yet premium will reamin the same. We have subsequently renewed with NUD for the last 2 years as they have proved to remain the cheapest for the type of cover we require.

darich

saligee wrote: »

.

At a rate of £200 extra per month, it will take Pearl over 6 years to recoup the cost of our underpinning. Good luck to 'em I say! Although I'm still inclined to insure the contents elsewhere.

You said in your first post that the insurance had gone up £200 to £500 for your year's cover.
Am i reading correct that now you're saying it's an increase of £200 per month??
:eek: