Buildings insurance for house with previous subsidence

Searcher2

Does anyone happen to know any insurance companies who as part of their basic 'acceptance' conditions ask if the property has suffered subsidence in the last 10 years rather than having ever suffering subsidence?

I am with M&S Insurance who did only ask if the property had suffered subsidence in the last 10 years but they have bumped the price up so I have been looking around. The only one I have found so far that does is PolicyExpert which is significantly cheaper but there are bad reviews about their claims handler Trinity Claims.

It is a bit annoying as I have been told my house is likely now built on better foundations than any of the houses around me and the 10 year test seemed like a logical question.

dunstonh

Did it suffer subsidence or movement? Loads of houses suffer the latter but often get referred to as subsidence incorrectly.

Have you had a structural engineers report done since the event?

Searcher2

The house was built on an area which used to be the edge of a pond in the 1950s. Shortly after the part built over the pond area started to bulge (apparently). The owner wouldn't move out so the builders just shoved a girder underneath somehow. When I bought the house in 2002 obviously the bulging wall was still there and the floors sloped towards the area of the historic pond. I had the house knocked down and extended over that area and the builders decided to pile the foundations. It's been fine since and my builders said it probably would have done all the moving it was going to do anyway,
Now I don't know if you call that movement or subsidence but I was always under the impression it was historic subsidence.

In answer to "Have you had a structural engineers report done since the event?" is the event you mention the underpinning or the original subsidence? Aviva's underwriters required sending someone out to do such a report when I rang this week - seems a lot of effort/expense when I was only asking for a quote....hence me ideally wanting a company that just asked if subsidence had occurred in the last 10 years. L&V used to but they don't now.

dunstonh

Now I don't know if you call that movement or subsidence but I was always under the impression it was historic subsidence.

That could well be classed as movement rather than subsidence.

It may seem semantics but its a strange thing that if you contact an insurer and use the term "subsidence" they often get scared and back away. If you use the term "movement" they will often consider it. Although asking for a structural engineers report is quite common before they issue a quote. However, once you obtain that report, it is good for future to use with anyone else.

We have movement on our property. Structural engineer graded it level 2 which is cosmetic only. Insurers do not care about level 2 or less. Ours was similar as we have a moat and one wing of the house is very close to it and doesnt have deep enough foundations and we are on clay and have a high water table. For 6 months of the year, the house gets stretched and the other 6 months it moves back.

NFU took us on. I even got to speak to the underwriter making the decision. For them, properties like ours are commonplace.

RadicalBrew

I am coming up for renewal and I have a similar issue with M&S insurance who previously only asked the question along the lines of "Have you had subsidence/movement in the past 10 years"

The aggregators seem to offer Intelligent Insurance and HomeProtect, who have a pretty awful reputation...

I would happily pay over the odds to be with NFU, but unfortunately they don't appear to cover London.

Will keep this thread updated. I think there are many people in this situation in London - would be nice to have a pinned thread/whole section on this.