When to organise Building Insurance when purchasing new home

Theresonly1

I'm in process of purchasing new home. Most thing s in place; offer accepted, mortgage application approved and offered by lender, solicitors doing their searches and enquiries now.
Just awaiting exchange and completion now. Lender requires building insurance in place on exchange and completion.

Should I start browsing building insurance deals right now ?

user1977

It's you who needs the insurance in place at exchange, the lender won't really care about it until completion because that's when their money is at risk.

Yes, no harm in shopping around now.

By "new" home I take it you just mean new to you rather than newly-built? If the latter then normally you don't need insurance until completion as the builders insure until then.

DullGreyGuy

Once you're exchange date is set is really the time to looking in anger as general wisdom says the shorter the time between quote and inception the higher the price because it becomes a distress purchase with little time for you to shop around etc. 

propertyrental

DullGreyGuy said:

Once you're exchange date is set is really the time to looking in anger as general wisdom says the shorter the time between quote and inception the higher the price because it becomes a distress purchase with little time for you to shop around etc. 

The Exchange date won't be 'set' until the date of Exchange. Until then it's just a 'hoped for' date. But as the 'hoped for'  date approaches, start lookng for insurance so that as soon as your conveyancer announces Exchangen you can activate the policy you have decided on.

nb - price of of the premium should not be the only factor in your decision!

youth_leader

When I was purchasing this bungalow I used the comparison sites for insurance quotes, as well as going direct to the firms that aren't on the comparison sites.  I chose the cheapest as I hadn't had to claim in over thirty years, I had a false sense of security.

I purchased both buildings and contents at the same time as I only had a week between exchange and completion.

As I found out six months later when Storm Arwen blew the flat roof off the extension,  the quote was cheap for a reason.  No-one available to make the roof safe, and a six week wait for anyone to visit to assess, whilst water was pouring into my 'new' home. A very stressful experience.  When you do choose someone to insure with, read their one star reviews.  I had to stay with my insurance company for another year as my settlement was still being debated at renewal, but I joined Which and insured with one of their 'recommended providers' the following year.

km1500

you need buildings insurance on exchange of contracts as you are committed to buy even if it burns to the floor

propertyrental

youth_leader said:

When I was purchasing this bungalow I used the comparison sites for insurance quotes, as well as going direct to the firms that aren't on the comparison sites.  I chose the cheapest as I hadn't had to claim in over thirty years, I had a false sense of security.

I purchased both buildings and contents at the same time as I only had a week between exchange and completion.

As I found out six months later when Storm Arwen blew the flat roof off the extension,  the quote was cheap for a reason.  No-one available to make the roof safe, and a six week wait for anyone to visit to assess, whilst water was pouring into my 'new' home. A very stressful experience.  When you do choose someone to insure with, read their one star reviews.  I had to stay with my insurance company for another year as my settlement was still being debated at renewal, but I joined Which and insured with one of their 'recommended providers' the following year.

Yeah I see lots of reviews on eg trustpilot eg "easy to sign up" "great price" "very efficient joining process".

The reviews that matter are the ones dby people who have had to make a claim.......

and it's not only the claims process itself but also the policy terms ie will your claim fall into the 'valid claim' or 'excluded' catagory?

DullGreyGuy

The caveat on review websites is:

1) People are much more likely to post negative experiences than positive
2) Insurance is a highly commoditised distress purchase, very few people are going to brag about buying a high branded insurance this year as a treat, most buy on price alone
3) If you buy a policy with only basic cover you shouldn't complain that claims only have basic coverage but people do (note above about people buying on price... thats why these low quality policies exist). 

If you don't need the bells and whistles then thats fine, not everyone does, but then don't be swayed by someone complaining at claims stage that the bells and whistles weren't there.

[iD]

interesting points raised.
Any advise on what to look out for when taking out insurance (other than premium)?

DullGreyGuy

[iD] said:

interesting points raised.
Any advise on what to look out for when taking out insurance (other than premium)?

There are a few things that can be of use depending on the nature of your home which are worth checking if it exists if its of interest to you (only covering Buildings but Contents have even more)

Trace & Access - pays for finding where a leak is coming from in fixed piping 

Matching Set - pays to replaced non-damaged items, eg if one wall of a fully tiled bathroom is damaged, without this cover they retile just that wall, with this cover they retile the whole room if matching tiles can't be found

Storm - definitions vary massively, some are very restrictive

Maximum days unoccupied - can be 28 to 90 days, depends if you take long holidays

Excess - can be voluntary and compulsory (the two get added), Escape of Water and Subsidence can have higher excesses

Accidental Damage - covers you accidentally putting a nail through a pipe

All Risks - is the gold plated version of insurance, you are covered unless its excluded whereas with normal insurance (insured perils) you are only covered if you can show the damage is caused by one of the "perils" insured (eg fire, flood, theft) 

[iD]

Thank you @DullGreyGuy. The is very helpful.