House Insurance in place for Exchange

janoid19

Hi,

I apologise if this is a silly question but I am looking on comparison websites to get quotes for home insurance as we are hopefully due to exchange in the next week or 2.

Some of the questions are asking about types of locks on doors and windows. Can I just guess and then ring up to make any amendments once I have moved in and can check personally

Thanks x

oniongirl

Don't suppose you had a homebuyer's survey done? Ours mentioned the type of locks on the doors. You might be charged an administration fee for making a change, and it may effect the price of your premium.

MovingForwards

Yes you can. Just go with the lowest locks and upgrade the policy if you need to, after moving in.

janoid19

oniongirl said:

Don't suppose you had a homebuyer's survey done? Ours mentioned the type of locks on the doors. You might be charged an administration fee for making a change, and it may effect the price of your premium.

Thanks for the tip, I'll double check the homebuyers report as I'm not sure if they mentioned the locks on there.

janoid19

MovingForwards said:

Yes you can. Just go with the lowest locks and upgrade the policy if you need to, after moving in.

Great, I was hoping this was the case, thanks! 

moneysavinghero

You could arrange one final viewing before exchange (just to check the house you are buying is still there and in the condition you expect it to be before you become legally obliged to buy it). Then you could also have a look at the locks and things.

eddddy

It's a remote possibility, but if you 'over-state' the security of locks etc and the house gets broken into and damaged/vandalised between exchange and completion - the insurers probably won't pay out, so you'd probably have to cover the cost. (And they might get difficult and talk about cancellation, if they think you deliberately misrepresented information.) 

As others say - if you just specify the lowest level of security of locks, you should be ok. Whether it's worth amending the policy later depends on whether the reduction in premium is greater than the admin fee.

greatcrested

Another viewing may not help. It's not always easy to see if a lock is British Standard....

You could ask the seller, and trust they tell you right, but safest option is to under-estimate the security rather than risk over-estimating and voiding the insurance.

So unless you re sure, say 'no' to window locks etc.

You could answer 'yes' tosmoke alarms on the basis that if there aren't any you can (indeed should) buy a couple for £10 in your first week.

Come to think of it, same with the locks - you'll be changing them anyway so when you do, buy British Standard BS3621 locks.

janoid19

Great, thanks for the advice everyone.

I've put no to the windows and things I'm not sure on and then I will check at the first opportunity I get.