House insurance or home where ex offender once boarded...

daysdream

Eight years ago I provided shelter in my home for a relative who had just left prison.  This was in January 2014.  I didn't think at the time to let my house insurance company know, and a month before the annual premium was due I contacted them to arrange re-insuring.  One of the questions asked was (something on the lines of) do you have anyone who is spending 'unspent' time from prison living with you.  I responded I did - and all hell was let loose.  The Insurance company phoned me, I was closely questioned (it felt like an interrogation, I was in tears) then they phoned me back to inform me that my policy had been immediately cancelled.  I was then restricted to very few companies who would insure and ended up using a company that charged around 400% more than I was originally paying.

Because of this I cannot now get a low cost insurance.  I'm restricted because I have to admit that I've previously been refused insurance renewal. 

The relative left my home around four years ago, but it seems I cannot relieve myself of the financial burden of having very little (far more expensive) choice of insurance companies to apply to, due to his staying here for a while.

I'm innocent of any crime.  It seems I'll be having to pay the price for how ever much longer I pay insurance (I'm in my 70's and am on Pension credit, so the huge sums of money I'm being forced to pay seems excessive).  Please, can anyone advise me?  After living on my own for the last four years, I'm still having to pay the price for my relative staying here many years ago.   

DullGreyGuy

So did they cancel your inforce policy or just refuse to offer you renewal terms?
If they cancelled your inforce policy did they say it was cancelled for the non-disclosure of your relative being there or simply because you wanted to notify them that he was there and they dont cover those with unspent convictions?

If your policy was cancelled for non-disclosure then there is little you can do and it will need to be declared indefinitely for almost all insurers.

If they simply didnt allow you to renew then most insurers dont ask about decline to quote and so its only the minority it'd have to be declared for. 

daysdream

Hi DullGreyGuy, thanks for your response.  The Insurance company cancelled my policy on the spot due to (unintentional) non-disclosure, so it looks like I'll be having to face a hefty cost for any future policies.  Well, now you've explained, at least I know where I stand (not in a very good place:-(  

dunstonh

 The Insurance company cancelled my policy on the spot due to (unintentional) non-disclosure

Apologies for labouring on this point.  We just need to be totally clear that was the exact reason.

unintentional non-disclosure would see your premium refunded.  Did they void the policy or backdate cancellation to the date the relative moved in and refund?  Or cancel it that day with no backdating?

If they cancelled it that day forwards (or even backdating it to the date the relative moved in) then that could be different.  Non-disclosure would normally see the policy voided (and unintentional would see the premium refunded)

DullGreyGuy

Unintentional non-disclosure - you wouldnt reasonably know there was anything to disclose, this is typically things like buying a secondhand car and the seller didnt tell you they'd modded the engine and the average person wouldnt be able to tell

Careless non-disclosure - you're asked about how long you've owned the car and you guestimate it was 6-7 years ago so put down 6.5 years whereas it was actually 6.9 years ago

Wreckless/Intentional non-disclosure - you claim you thought that your VW Golf with Porsche branded alloys on it wasn't modified from factory build

The rules around what insurers can do since 2012 comes from CIDRA and depending on which it falls under and if they would have insured you had you made a true declaration would define what the insurer is entitled to do and clearly Intentional non-disclosure is worst as it allows them to void the policy (ie it never existed) and retain the premiums.

All of this is a little moot though as any cancellation would have to be declared. In some circumstances you can argue that you wanted to do a mid term adjustment and either they didnt offer terms or you didnt like the price and so you cancelled it as changing your job/car or letting you relative move in was more important for you. I think however in this circumstances it would be a stretch to claim this and any hope of it would require them to have cancelled the policy from the date of the call... if they backdated it in any way or voided the policy then clearly you cannot claim you chose to cancel it 

Smithcom

daysdream said:

Eight years ago I provided shelter in my home for a relative who had just left prison.  This was in January 2014.  I didn't think at the time to let my house insurance company know, and a month before the annual premium was due I contacted them to arrange re-insuring.  One of the questions asked was (something on the lines of) do you have anyone who is spending 'unspent' time from prison living with you.  I responded I did - and all hell was let loose.  The Insurance company phoned me, I was closely questioned (it felt like an interrogation, I was in tears) then they phoned me back to inform me that my policy had been immediately cancelled.  I was then restricted to very few companies who would insure and ended up using a company that charged around 400% more than I was originally paying.

Because of this I cannot now get a low cost insurance.  I'm restricted because I have to admit that I've previously been refused insurance renewal. 

The relative left my home around four years ago, but it seems I cannot relieve myself of the financial burden of having very little (far more expensive) choice of insurance companies to apply to, due to his staying here for a while.

I'm innocent of any crime.  It seems I'll be having to pay the price for how ever much longer I pay insurance (I'm in my 70's and am on Pension credit, so the huge sums of money I'm being forced to pay seems excessive).  Please, can anyone advise me?  After living on my own for the last four years, I'm still having to pay the price for my relative staying here many years ago.   

 I 100% sympathise with this situation

It's a problem that the insurance industry has created, and the problem is likely to get worse until some regulation or code of conduct is created.  I could go into a lot of detail, but it's probably quite dull to most.

I would recommend that you either:

1. Find an insurer/broker that you can talk to, and hopefully get normal premium/terms agreed
2. Find an insurer (i.e Direct Line) who only ask about cancellations in past 5 years

I am so sorry for the issues that you've had to put up with when you were only trying to do someone a favour.  

I hope that you get this sorted

SC