Bathrooms

Neenie01

I have just been told by LV Insurance that as my toilet downstairs is separate from my bathroom (no sink, etc, just toilet). It is classed as an additional bathroom and therefore as I have a bathroom downstairs (with no toilet) and shower room upstairs, my house is now classed as a 2 bed 3 bathroom house and LV can't insure 3 bathroom houses. This is the first I have heard of my house as having 3 bathrooms, it was always 2 bathrooms. LV tell me they have recently changed their policy. I have contacted other insurance companies and they tell me, they class it as 2 bathrooms. I am not sure the man I spoke to at LV has given me the correct information. 

Aretnap

There isn't a universal definition of bathroom. If LV want to use a different definition to most other insurers that's their right, so long as they phrase their questions clearly enough and provide information on the definitions they're using so that customers can understand what information they're asking for.

What are you hoping to achieve? If they've cancelled your policy or refused a claim because you misdeclared the number of bathrooms then you would have grounds for complaint if they had not phrased the question about bathrooms clearly. However if they just don't want to insure a house with a bathroom, a shower room and a toilet then you can't force them to accept your business; take it elsewhere. 

davidmcn

I've never dug into individual insurers' terms, but the questionnaires on the comparison sites do say that a WC counts as a bathroom, and obviously a room with a bath in it also counts, so three would appear to be the correct number to be used for quotes.

Why on earth they refuse to cover a 3 "bathroom" property (which isn't an excessive number these days), goodness knows, unless they have concerns that a high ratio of bathrooms to bedrooms means you're secretly running an HMO or a B&B or something.

Silvertabby

We are with RIAS and they changed last year.  Previously 2 bathrooms, being main bathroom and en- suite, now 3 including the downstairs cloakroom.  No problem continuing the insurance, and the 'extra' bathroom didn't increase the cost.

We did query this, and were told that it is something that all insurers are now doing.  

paddyandstumpy

It's to do with escape of water claims, the more pipe work in the property, the more opportunity for burst pipes and large losses. 

It may be because the number of bathrooms exceeds the number of bedrooms, although I'd suggest the correct rule should be to decline where the number of bathrooms exceeds bedrooms by more than 1. 

My first flat (which was only a one bed) had a en-suite bathroom including toilet, and a separate w.c adjacent to the living space. 

I'd say it's not unusual to see a 1 bed 2 bath, I've got friends who live in a 2 bed 3 bath. 

Ultimately, you can't force them to insure you. If they don't want your business, go elsewhere. 

davidmcn

paddyandstumpy said:

It's to do with escape of water claims, the more pipe work in the property, the more opportunity for burst pipes and large losses.

Makes some sense, though seems a clunky way of doing it. I've lived in properties with absurdly complex pipework but only one bathroom.

Sandtree

davidmcn said:

paddyandstumpy said:

It's to do with escape of water claims, the more pipe work in the property, the more opportunity for burst pipes and large losses.

Makes some sense, though seems a clunky way of doing it. I've lived in properties with absurdly complex pipework but only one bathroom.

But insurers aren't going to do a site survey on each and every property that want to do a quote on Confused.com and so they have to use approximations and generally the more "bathrooms" you have the more points of failure.

As always though this is a good lesson on ensuring you read the question and help notes properly as what a company means by a simple question can vary between insurers. Our current insurers don't count the WC as a "bathroom" but when doing quotes I noted that a number now do.