No insurance between exchange and completion?

UncleTooTall

Please help I’m panicking like a mad man! FTB and I mustn’t of got lost in all the process, I thought when the solicitor said I needed insurance in place when I exchanged it meant the policy to start on completion.

I’ve gone back through comms and can see I’ve really messed up, where does this leave me? I complete on Friday. We popped round the house the other day so it’s still in one piece.

Had a restless night because of this! Will the sale still go through?

marliepanda

It won’t affect completion, but you’re taking a risk of fire, flood etc.

DaftyDuck

Just insure from now. Tick it up to experience.

UncleTooTall

okay! So if I rang my insurance company today and got the cover to start from today instead of Friday if anything happened from today would I be covered? We only viewed the property at the weekend.

Seems like a grey area if we move in Friday and there’s something wrong technically my cover has started? That’s where I think I’ve got confused.

I understand for example if the house collapsed or as you say something like a flood or fire. But if say we moved in a there was an issue we wasn’t aware of until would I be able to claim? Say for example the boiler was broken (not really sure what to use as an example!)

Thanks for your response!

whatdoyouthink...

Just change the start date of your insurance to today and whatever that insurance covers you'll be able to claim on.

-taff

You are/should be paying buildings insurance, which means anything affecting the building would be covered.

The sale will still go through because you've exchanged.

The insurance is just to cover you in between exchange and completion in case the house falls down/blows up.

davidmcn

UncleTooTall wrote: »

Seems like a grey area if we move in Friday and there’s something wrong technically my cover has started? That’s where I think I’ve got confused.

I understand for example if the house collapsed or as you say something like a flood or fire. But if say we moved in a there was an issue we wasn’t aware of until would I be able to claim? Say for example the boiler was broken (not really sure what to use as an example!)

The boiler would (probably) not be covered by your insurance anyway.

It's not really any different from what the situation would be any other time - there's always might be scope for uncertainty about exactly when an insured event occurred.

pinkteapot

Broken boiler would only be covered if you took the Home Emergency optional extra (and then you have to check policy wording to see what specific emergencies that covers).

Insurance doesn't cover maintenance issues, eg broken boilers, broken window handles, leaky gutters, leaking flat roof... It's for unexpected events, like break-in, fire, flood, subsidence.

If you have accidental damage cover (another optional extra) then it covers accidents like spilling bright food on a carpet, knocking a TV over and breaking it, that kind of thing.

Once you're in the house and settled, have a read of the full policy booklet for your home insurance. It'll be a bit boring but if it's the first time you've had house insurance it'll give you a clearer idea of what sort of things are covered.

UncleTooTall

Phew well thankfully nothing bad happened during that time! Will deffo make sure this is a lesson learned for next time.

Really appreciate all your advice, seems like some solicitors ask for proof and even mortgage lenders. All I got was told to make sure I had insurance once I got called saying I had exchanged.