Need urgent help with getting buildings insurance. Stumped on a few questions.

Jack_Bauer

Hi,

This is the first time I am getting buildings insurance and a few questions are causing me to question what I should be putting in my form for my quote.

1. The form is asking me how many living rooms I have. Is a through lounge considered one room or two?

2. Picture of the roof of the house is below. The form is asking me what the roof is made out of it but I'm not sure. The options are "slate", "tile", "concrete", "other". Can someone help? The house was built circa 1890's.

3. We had a SER done due to noticing some cracks on the front and back of the property. The report indicates that the cracking seen can be considered "aesthetic" and that the possible causes may include; "natural ground movement due to consolidation over time", "ground movement caused by tree action", "differential movement due to faulty drainage issues". The report also goes on to say that "In carrying out our inspection we have had to report on signs of defects which will involve current expenditure or future liability. We must point out that when dealing with properties of the age of this one, such signs are not uncommon"....."Evidence of natural movement was noted in the building. Within the limitations of this report we cannot confirm that the building will not move further. We believe that the structural integrity of the building will not be compromised by the cracking currently present."

The form is asking me the following questions and I don't know how to answer it.

• Has your house ever had cracks on its external walls?
• Has your house ever suffered from subsidence or ground movement?
• Is your house continuing to suffer from cracks or subsidence or ground movement?

In terms of cracks on external walls, the answer would be yes. Has house ever suffered from ground movement, I guess the answer is yes too. How house continuing to suffer, I don't know what to choose for this

How would you answer these questions based on the above?

Thanks

greatcrested

Hrd to see from the photo - need a close up, but it looks like tiles.

If the cracks are described as "aesthetic" I would answer 'No'.

I would answer 'No' subsidence as the report states 'possible', (ie not definitive)

Likewise the last question.

Others may have a different interpretation......

Jack_Bauer

To be frank as well, the cracks that we got looked into were on rendered walls and not on the brickwork as far as the surveyor could tell. The crack at the front of the house is on render. The crack at the back of the house is also on render and definitely not on the internal wall when inspected by the engineer.

It's really hard to decide what to pick

Mutton_Geoff

The form is asking me the following questions and I don't know how to answer it.

• Has your house ever had cracks on its external walls?
• Has your house ever suffered from subsidence or ground movement?
• Is your house continuing to suffer from cracks or subsidence or ground movement?

In terms of cracks on external walls, the answer would be yes. Has house ever suffered from ground movement, I guess the answer is yes too. How house continuing to suffer, I don't know what to choose for this

How would you answer these questions based on the above?

Roof looks like tile. Living rooms 1 if it's open plan.
For the other questions you can only answer "not to my knowledge" because you have no way of knowing what's happened to the house in the last 130 years.
For the last question I would say no, it's not "continuing to suffer". Why not ring the insurer and ask them? If you're on a comparison site, then keep the answers simple and then call the insurer of your choice to ask them.

greatcrested

Mutton_Geoff said:

The form is asking me the following questions and I don't know how to answer it.

• Has your house ever had cracks on its external walls?
• Has your house ever suffered from subsidence or ground movement?
• Is your house continuing to suffer from cracks or subsidence or ground movement?

In terms of cracks on external walls, the answer would be yes. Has house ever suffered from ground movement, I guess the answer is yes too. How house continuing to suffer, I don't know what to choose for this

How would you answer these questions based on the above?

Roof looks like tile. Living rooms 1 if it's open plan.
For the other questions you can only answer "not to my knowledge" because you have no way of knowing what's happened to the house in the last 130 years.
For the last question I would say no, it's not "continuing to suffer". Why not ring the insurer and ask them? If you're on a comparison site, then keep the answers simple and then call the insurer of your choice to ask them.

hmmmm - my experience of speakig to 'customer service' bods on the phones is you can open up a can or worms....

mlb95

Hey, I found the survey I'd had done on my property included the answers to the roof material, maybe yours has the same ?