Issue with buildings insurance at point of exchange.

canaldumidi

Sandtree said:

Golden_Glow90 said:
That's the point of the insurance as you are legally obliged to buy it once you have exchanged

You are not legally obliged to buy home insurance. the property once you've Exchanged - whatever its condition.

Your mortgage offer will almost certainly make you contractually obliged to buy insurance but the OP states there is no mortgage .

The sales contract is almost certainly the 5th edition of the Standard Conditions of Sale (SCS) which places the 'risk' on the buyer from Exchange - Section 5.1.1.1

Golden_Glow90

Sandtree said:

Golden_Glow90 said:
That's the point of the insurance as you are legally obliged to buy it once you have exchanged

You are not legally obliged to buy home insurance.

Your mortgage offer will almost certainly make you contractually obliged to buy insurance but the OP states there is no mortgage .

Sorry worded that wrong, I meant legally committed to buying the house (not insurance) once you’ve exchanged 

jonnydeppiwish!

Given that there are in excess of a million property sales per year, of which a substantial number will be financed via a mortgage, are you saying that none of the insurance policies taken out by the purchasers will cover them between exchange and completion?

eddddy

jonnydeppiwish! said:

Given that there are in excess of a million property sales per year, of which a substantial number will be financed via a mortgage, are you saying that none of the insurance policies taken out by the purchasers will cover them between exchange and completion?

As you say, it's a standard requirement - so I'd have thought just about any home insurer could deal with it.

For example, Aviva say:

On the day of exchange, you’ll usually agree on a completion date with your seller and insure your new property. Aviva Home Insurance, combined contents and buildings protection and offers competitive cover for this step in the process. 

Link: https://www.aviva.co.uk/insurance/home-products/home-insurance/process-of-buying-a-home/

And LV say:

Yes, we can offer a quote as long as you know all of the details, but we can only insure the property from the actual exchange of contracts date.

link: https://www.lv.com/home-insurance/i-havent-exchanged-on-a-property-im-buying-can-i-have-a-home-insurance-quote

So maybe their phone agents didn't understand the question (or weren't properly trained).

jonnydeppiwish!

eddddy said:

jonnydeppiwish! said:

Given that there are in excess of a million property sales per year, of which a substantial number will be financed via a mortgage, are you saying that none of the insurance policies taken out by the purchasers will cover them between exchange and completion?

As you say, it's a standard requirement - so I'd have thought just about any home insurer could deal with it.

For example, Aviva say:

On the day of exchange, you’ll usually agree on a completion date with your seller and insure your new property. Aviva Home Insurance, combined contents and buildings protection and offers competitive cover for this step in the process. 

Link: https://www.aviva.co.uk/insurance/home-products/home-insurance/process-of-buying-a-home/

And LV say:

Yes, we can offer a quote as long as you know all of the details, but we can only insure the property from the actual exchange of contracts date.

link: https://www.lv.com/home-insurance/i-havent-exchanged-on-a-property-im-buying-can-i-have-a-home-insurance-quote

So maybe their phone agents didn't understand the question (or weren't properly trained).

Thanks - I was pretty convinced the op was just worrying about nothing. 

Heres_the_deal

eddddy said:

So maybe their phone agents didn't understand the question (or weren't properly trained).

Yes, this is the crux of the issue.

I've now spoken at length with LV, Direct Line and Churchill: All confirm any online policy buildings insurance will be suitable. So in that sense, my issue is now resolved.

However, Aviva appears to have a left-field system, or poorly trained staff. Here is their last communication on the matter:

"Hello ,

Thank you for contacting us.

We’ve set ourselves up as an online insurer, which helps us keep our costs low and so keep your premiums low. So we do some things differently from traditional insurer and do not provide call centre support.

Therefore you were through to Aviva Direct and not us Aviva online as we do not provide cover if the policyholder is not residing at the property.

I hope this helps.

Thank you"

Make of that what you will. If they do indeed have a training issue, then fine. If not, some new home owners may not be insured between exchange and completion based on their assumptions.

eddddy

Heres_the_deal said:

eddddy said:

So maybe their phone agents didn't understand the question (or weren't properly trained).

Yes, this is the crux of the issue.

I've now spoken at length with LV, Direct Line and Churchill: All confirm any online policy buildings insurance will be suitable. So in that sense, my issue is now resolved.

However, Aviva appears to have a left-field system, or poorly trained staff. Here is their last communication on the matter:

"Hello ,

Thank you for contacting us.

We’ve set ourselves up as an online insurer, which helps us keep our costs low and so keep your premiums low. So we do some things differently from traditional insurer and do not provide call centre support.

Therefore you were through to Aviva Direct and not us Aviva online as we do not provide cover if the policyholder is not residing at the property.

I hope this helps.

Thank you"

Make of that what you will. If they do indeed have a training issue, then fine. If not, some new home owners may not be insured between exchange and completion based on their assumptions.

To me, that sounds like an agent typed the 'wrong' keywords into their FAQ system - so got the wrong answer.

i.e. They typed "not residing in the property" into their system, and copy/pasted the answer they got back.

(Or a robot 'read' your email and proposed answers based on keywords it found like "not residing in property" in your email, and a poorly trained agent accepted the answer proposed by the robot.)

If they had typed, say, "cover between exchange and completion" into their system, they might have got a more relevant answer.


Even call centres sometimes work in the same way - the 'computer' is listening to your questions, and based on the keywords you mention - it displays potential answers on the agents screen. And the agent just reads the answers to you.


If you wanted you could try asking the question again - but just mentioning purchasing a property plus exchange and completion.

user1977

jonnydeppiwish! said:

Given that there are in excess of a million property sales per year, of which a substantial number will be financed via a mortgage, are you saying that none of the insurance policies taken out by the purchasers will cover them between exchange and completion?

For the avoidance of doubt, whether you're buying with a mortgage or not isn't relevant.

Heres_the_deal

eddddy said:

Heres_the_deal said:

eddddy said:

So maybe their phone agents didn't understand the question (or weren't properly trained).

Yes, this is the crux of the issue.

I've now spoken at length with LV, Direct Line and Churchill: All confirm any online policy buildings insurance will be suitable. So in that sense, my issue is now resolved.

However, Aviva appears to have a left-field system, or poorly trained staff. Here is their last communication on the matter:

"Hello ,

Thank you for contacting us.

We’ve set ourselves up as an online insurer, which helps us keep our costs low and so keep your premiums low. So we do some things differently from traditional insurer and do not provide call centre support.

Therefore you were through to Aviva Direct and not us Aviva online as we do not provide cover if the policyholder is not residing at the property.

I hope this helps.

Thank you"

Make of that what you will. If they do indeed have a training issue, then fine. If not, some new home owners may not be insured between exchange and completion based on their assumptions.

If you wanted you could try asking the question again - but just mentioning purchasing a property plus exchange and completion.

That was the question I asked. Re: insuring a property from point of exchange that I would not be moving into until completion.