Calculating Property Building Insurance

pred02

Hi,

I live in and own a share of freehold in a two flat purpose build terraced maisonette in South London. We are due to renew our annual building insurance premium, and I wanted to double check that we are not under-insured. I tried to go into the rebuilding calculator for RCIS however I cannot find an option for a purpose build maisonette.

There are 2 flats each with 2 bedrooms, one reception room each. The approximate area of the building 80 sq meters. 

How can I calculate the rebuild value without going to get a RCIS surveyor?

Thanks

 

tacpot12

Tricky. I think that you need a RICS Surveyor if you want any sort of accuracy. 

You could just treat the building as a large house, use the RICS calculator to get a price and then factor this price for the extra requirements that two purpose-built maisonettes would create for the  builder, e.g. add 20% or 50%, or whatever else feels right.  But you have no guarantees that you are not underinsured if you take this route. 

If you goet a RICS Surveyor to give you a rebuilding price today, you can potentially use the  RICS calculator to keep an eye on how re-building costs are increasing over time. e.g. you could get a price to rebuild a large house of the size and construction of your maisonettes and record the data you entered into the calculator; next year, you can enter the same data and get a rough idea of how rebuilding costs have changed, and use this to factor the cost of rebuilding your own property. You  will need to keep an ear out for any changes to building regulations that would make the cost of rebuilding your property more expensive. 

I would plan on getting a RICS Surveyor every 10 years or so, just to stop your estimates getting too out of kilter. 

*j*

You've tried BCIS....https://calculator.bcis.co.uk/ which leads to their calculator...https://calculator.bcis.co.uk/checking_sum_insured/checkingSumInsured.aspx

and this also turned up in my search..https://propertydata.co.uk/rebuild-cost-calculator

I've found insurers often cover "up to £500,000" or "up to £1,000,000"

canaldumidi

As tacpot12 says, though you could try speaking to an insurance broker who specialises in flats etc (not just a bog-standard residential broker). They must have experience of this though may well just repeat the RICS advice.

Or post on the insurance board here.

canaldumidi

*j* said:

You've tried BCIS....https://calculator.bcis.co.uk/ which leads to their calculator...https://calculator.bcis.co.uk/checking_sum_insured/checkingSumInsured.aspx

and this also turned up in my search..https://propertydata.co.uk/rebuild-cost-calculator

I've found insurers often cover "up to £500,000" or "up to £1,000,000"

As the OP has found, all those calculators are for single residences, whether houses or flats, not for buildings comprising multiple residences.

pred02

canaldumidi said:

As tacpot12 says, though you could try speaking to an insurance broker who specialises in flats etc (not just a bog-standard residential broker). They must have experience of this though may well just repeat the RICS advice.

Or post on the insurance board here.

The insurance brokers pleaded the 5th amendement and said they cannot advise in terms of how much coverage I need. I get that they are not surveyors but a bit daft considering they are taking a premium of finding me the policy.  

I posted on the Insurance board - let's see what they come back with.

Thanks

canaldumidi

pred02 said:

canaldumidi said:

As tacpot12 says, though you could try speaking to an insurance broker who specialises in flats etc (not just a bog-standard residential broker). They must have experience of this though may well just repeat the RICS advice.

Or post on the insurance board here.

The insurance brokers pleaded the 5th amendement and said they cannot advise in terms of how much coverage I need. I get that they are not surveyors but a bit daft considering they are taking a premium of finding me the policy.  

Of course they can't tell you how much coverage, but I'd have thought a decent broker could advise the best way to get the information, even if it is just 'pay an RICS surveyor'.!