House insurance on house with subsidence

detomassino

Hello All,

I own and live in a house which is undergoing investigation for subsidence. It is nearing the end of 1 year monitoring of building movement pointing to a large nearby tree. The insurance company agreed to deal with the investigation and repair.

I now need to follow my work and rent the property out. My current insurance does not want to insure the house when it is rent out.

I checked and see that insuring a house with ongoing subsidence claim will cost 3x as much as I pay currently ( in excess of £1K). I could accept that for one year that I need to be away......but when I come back I presume I will still need to pay the same amount and my old insurer will not take me back on the same terms.

What is your opinion on the situation? Is there a cost-effective strategy here?

Best regards,

T

detomassino

Addendum:

Can I keep the existing homeowner insurance active and get another landlord insurance?

Annemos

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/files/207343/DRN8701523.pdf

Does this help you at all? Re staying with the same insurer, even if it becomes a rental? I wonder if you showed them this? If they do cover rental properties? 



"UKI has said that the commercial policy is a new policy with new terms and so it can’t offer subsidence cover. To be clear, UKI’s commercial insurance for landlords can include cover for subsidence as an add-on. But it doesn’t offer cover to new business customers if their property has a history of subsidence. In this case, as Mr and Mrs S were moving from the residential arm to the commercial arm of UKI and taking out a different sort of policy, they were essentially classed as new customers. I appreciate that different parts of UKI act as different business entities, but ultimately they are part of the same business. It doesn’t seem fair in this case to refuse Mr and Mrs S subsidence cover just because they are moving from one part of the business to another and taking out a new type of policy"

detomassino

Thank you. It may be useful. I will ask them about it.

I read different opinions about having to policies on the same property.

Would it be possible not to cancel the current residential policy but to keep it alongside the landlord insurance?

[Deleted User]

Lloyds only care about ongoing subsidence.  Once the claim is finalised they should offer standard terms

From their livechat a few months ago: 
We don't need to know about the past claim as long as it's all OK now.

Annemos

Can you elaborate on that, please, Deleted_User. Is that Lloyds of London? 


T, I am only a regular homeowner, so no professional knowledge in the field. But I would think keeping 2 policies active on a home would not be allowed. As if there was a claim, it would not be known which one to use.........

...... unless there was any possibility of keeping a Subsidence only policy on the "home" and a policy without subsidence  on the "rental". I do not know if that is even feasible. 


(I think you are aware that it is generally advisable to stay with the same Insurer who did the Subsidence repairs. That is the only company that owes you any "loyalty" at all via the Industry Guidelines.)

detomassino

Deleted_User - thank you. The claim looks like is going to be a very long affair though. When I return after 1 year it will still be ongoing.

Annemos, yes, I know I shouldn't change insurers but I am forced to as they don't want to insure the house when let out.

I don't think there will be any other claim for subsidence while the house is rent out.

I was told it will take another two years for the ongoing claim to go through. First the cause of subsidence needs to be removed, then another year of monitoring and if no subsidence then repair will be carried out.

The current insurer says they will see the claim through even if I insure the house with another provider.

[Deleted User]

Annemos said:

Can you elaborate on that, please, Deleted_User. Is that Lloyds of London? 


T, I am only a regular homeowner, so no professional knowledge in the field. But I would think keeping 2 policies active on a home would not be allowed. As if there was a claim, it would not be known which one to use.........

...... unless there was any possibility of keeping a Subsidence only policy on the "home" and a policy without subsidence  on the "rental". I do not know if that is even feasible. 


(I think you are aware that it is generally advisable to stay with the same Insurer who did the Subsidence repairs. That is the only company that owes you any "loyalty" at all via the Industry Guidelines.)

Lloyds Bank.  as soon as the claim is settled and corrective work completed then they will offer normal terms

Annemos

Thank you very much Deleted_User. Very interesting to hear that, 

Annemos

Can't advise you. But you can try to fight very hard with the current insurer? Issue a formal complaint. Headed Formal Complaint. 

Using some of the concepts in that case. You probably need to send it to the actual insurance company and also to the layer underneath, which is called a Managing General Agent. (If there is an MGA, who might be underwriting on behalf of the top insurer. It depends how the policy is set up.). 

(This is not a complaint about the actual claim handling, so you possibly/probably would not be submitting it through the normal Complaints procedure which applies to claims problems. If you try to use that procedure they will just reply...that's not our problem.) 

 

detomassino

Thank you, Annemos.