Buying first house - any way to check 'Claims and Underwriting Exchange' (CUE) for pbuilding issues?

NeuroticHomebuyer

I'm in the process of buying a house, and going through 'first time buyer check lists' type things, and one of them is making sure you get a survey done.

However, it warns that surveyors can still miss things, and sellers can conceal cracks under a fresh lick of paint. When Googling more about cracks/subsidence, I found something called ' Claims and Underwriting Exchange', but I'm unclear if there's any way I can have my solicitor check that? When I Google that, it seems to mostly be results about people wanting to correct their car insurance history, so I'm not even sure I have the right thing.

I'm also not clear if the database is for the people that have the buildings insurance, or the properties themselves (or both)?

Sandtree

As far as I am aware only insurers and certain insurance related companies have access to the CUE database. Private individuals can do a DSAR request to get information held on them personally but there is no mechanism for you as a potential buyer to query the database for a specific property.

CUE only holds data for 6 years from the date of claim closure and so if it had more historic subsidence then it would no longer show in CUE anyway.

Welcome to CUE (cuecheck.com)
The database itself runs on Experian's systems, though they arent the owners.

NeuroticHomebuyer

Sandtree said:

As far as I am aware only insurers and certain insurance related companies have access to the CUE database. Private individuals can do a DSAR request to get information held on them personally but there is no mechanism for you as a potential buyer to query the database for a specific property.

CUE only holds data for 6 years from the date of claim closure and so if it had more historic subsidence then it would no longer show in CUE anyway.

Thanks @Sandtree - they're missing a trick there, I'd totally pay to see the history - I wonder if though it's a data protection issue? Still, they could get consent from the seller, and it would be a warning sign if they said no.

The thing that worries me most is if I buy the property, discover a crack later, and it turns out my insurance is invalid because CUE has recorded a claim by the seller I wasn't aware of.

Sandtree

NeuroticHomebuyer said:

The thing that worries me most is if I buy the property, discover a crack later, and it turns out my insurance is invalid because CUE has recorded a claim by the seller I wasn't aware of.

It cannot be.

Your insurance can only be invalidated if you:
a) Intentionally lied
b) Were grossly negligent in your answer

All insurers will ask "as far as you are aware" and so if you're not aware, the solicitor's questions havent identified anything and the surveyors report hasnt highlighted anything then you can state honestly that you are not aware. The gross negligence comes in when there is a damned big crack in the front which the suveyors report says is subsidence but you claim you werent aware because you didnt actually bother to read the report.

If there wasnt the prefix about your knowledge then matters would be different but insurers know how the processes work and that it would be difficult for anyone to answer unless they've owned the building from new. Hell, enough people struggle with the "has your car been modified" as they bought it as a 8 year old vehicle and have no idea what the original specs were.

Plausible deniability is a good thing in many circumstances

There would be a significant DPA issue of them disclosing the policy and claims information of others to a random person asking and you need to go back multiple sellers potentially. If you are that interested in the current sellers you could always talk to your solicitor about asking for a copy of the sellers schedule which should include the declarations like "no known history of subsidence" but if that says anything else then you have something you must declare in the future.

eddddy

Taking a step back, the way you address your concerns is using "pre-contract enquires" during the house buying process.

In simple terms, you can ask the seller (via your solicitor) about insurance claims, etc. Your solicitor includes the answers to those questions in the contract - so they become legally binding.

To speed things up, there is a standard list of questions which the seller will almost always be asked to answer - it;s called the TA6 Property information form, and it specifically asks the question "6.5 Has the seller made any buildings insurance claims? If Yes, please give details:".  Your solicitor will give you a copy a seller's replies, and you can ask follow-up questions if you want.

It's vital that you ask these questions and get replies via your solicitor - if you get the information, verbally, by email, by letter etc it won't form part of the contract.

If you later find out that the seller lied, and it causes a loss for you, you can claim damages from the seller.