House Insurance for house with a self contained basement

silverchoice

My house has a self contained basement. When we first moved in my
parents lived in the basement and me, my wife and daughter lived in the rest of the house. We were able to get buildings and contents insurance for the whole house.

My parents moved out after two years so we decided to rent out the basement. The Council said we had to create a new dwelling in the basement by blocking off the stairs to the rest of the house and improve the fire resistance of the basement. We also created a new address for the basement. We needed specialist house insurance. The buildings insurance is for the whole house but the house and basement have separate policies.

Five years later the tenants have moved out and we don’t want to rent it out anymore. We want to use the basement for ourselves and family. I phoned the insurance company to ask whether I could go back to insurance the whole house buildings and contents. They said I couldn’t do this as the house was now two dwellings.

Does this sound right?
If so do I need to try and revert the house back to one dwelling ?

D_M_E

Does it now have 2 separate council tax bands after all the conversion work?

Was the council tax banding for the house without the separated basement reduced?
Have you reintegrated the basement into the house and removed any separate entrance(s)?

If it was dual banded for council tax purposes, have you applied to the VOA/council to rescind the dual banding?

I believe the insurers are correct, you now have two separate dwellings and therefore require a separate policy for each.

Having said that, ask the insurers if you could have a freeholder's policy to cover the building since both the house and the basement form one integrated building - one cannot exist without the other. You never know, they might agree.

Also try other insurers, someone will give you cover.

silverchoice

D_M_E wrote: »

Does it now have 2 separate council tax bands after all the conversion work?

Was the council tax banding for the house without the separated basement reduced?
Have you reintegrated the basement into the house and removed any separate entrance(s)?

If it was dual banded for council tax purposes, have you applied to the VOA/council to rescind the dual banding?

I believe the insurers are correct, you now have two separate dwellings and therefore require a separate policy for each.

Having said that, ask the insurers if you could have a freeholder's policy to cover the building since both the house and the basement form one integrated building - one cannot exist without the other. You never know, they might agree.

Also try other insurers, someone will give you cover.

The house and basement have always had separate Council Tax bands since we moved in. I don’t want to reinstate the staircase.

I would save £500 on the insurance if I could say it was one dwelling.