Cancelled Home Insurance- how many years must this be declared?

Julia04

Hi. 5 years ago we were having some renovations done on our house, this included knocking down internal walls and making 3 rooms into one. I was not aware that I should have declared this work to my home insurance provider. When it came to renewal , I let them know that the number of rooms in our property had changed.  They immediately cancelled my home insurance. 
Since then I've declared that ive had insurance cancelled when renewing,  but my insurance is a lot more expensive and it is also difficult to find a company that will insure us. 
Does anyone know how long I have to declare this for, when renewing?
As the house insurance was in my name only, if we insured the property in my husband's name,  would that be OK? He would be answering the question honestly that he hasn't had insurance cancelled 
Any advice much appreciated 

Julia04

Hi. 5 years ago we were having some renovations done on our house, this included knocking down internal walls and making 3 rooms into one. I was not aware that I should have declared this work to my home insurance provider. When it came to renewal , I let them know that the number of rooms in our property had changed.  They immediately cancelled my home insurance. 
Since then I've declared that ive had insurance cancelled when renewing,  but my insurance is a lot more expensive and it is also difficult to find a company that will insure us. 
Does anyone know how long I have to declare this for, when renewing?
As the house insurance was in my name only, if we insured the property in my husband's name,  would that be OK? He would be answering the question honestly that he hasn't had insurance cancelled 
Any advice much appreciated 

cymruchris

Julia04 said:

Hi. 5 years ago we were having some renovations done on our house, this included knocking down internal walls and making 3 rooms into one. I was not aware that I should have declared this work to my home insurance provider. When it came to renewal , I let them know that the number of rooms in our property had changed.  They immediately cancelled my home insurance. 
Since then I've declared that ive had insurance cancelled when renewing,  but my insurance is a lot more expensive and it is also difficult to find a company that will insure us. 
Does anyone know how long I have to declare this for, when renewing?
As the house insurance was in my name only, if we insured the property in my husband's name,  would that be OK? He would be answering the question honestly that he hasn't had insurance cancelled 
Any advice much appreciated 

Did they actually cancel the policy or decline to renew? Did you get whatever they did in writing?

Normally the 'Have you ever had insurance cancelled' lasts forever unless it says 'in the last X years'.  Which is why I'm asking whether it was ACTUALLY cancelled - or whether you'd reached the end of the policy and they refused to renew?

DullGreyGuy

You need to answer the questions honestly... most the time the question is something like "have you or any of your household ever had insurance cancelled, voided, special terms applied" etc. As such under your current understanding both of you would have to answer "yes" to the question for as long as you live together. 

When you had the insurance cancelled 5 years ago did you ask them if you needed to declare this as a cancellation? What would normally have happened if you had declared before the works started is that they'd have told you they weren't prepared to insurer you during the course of the structural work and as such you have the choice of either cancelling the alterations or cancelling the policy. This doesn't have to be declared as it's you that ultimately chose to cancel even if it wasn't a free choice. In some cases insurers will treat after the effect cancellations in the same way and effectively let you off for the late notification but others will treat it as a non-disclosure issue and note it on CUE etc that they cancelled the policy. 

If you just made an assumption about your original insurer and never asked it may be worth asking now how they recorded it and if you need to be answering "yes" to cancelled insurance because of their actions or not. 

Julia04

Hi. It was coming up to my renewal and they cancelled it abruptly on the spot when I phoned up to make them aware of the changes to our property.I had to find another insurance provider straight away. So cancelled, not a refusal to renew

cymruchris

Julia04 said:

Hi. It was coming up to my renewal and they cancelled it abruptly on the spot when I phoned up to make them aware of the changes to our property.I had to find another insurance provider straight away. So cancelled, not a refusal to renew

Then unless the question asked at the quotation stage gives a timescale - then the answer is forever.

You might be better off speaking to an insurance broker rather than using online comparison sites where you'll have the chance to discuss what happened and when to see if you can get an improved price.

dunstonh

Julia04 said:

Hi. It was coming up to my renewal and they cancelled it abruptly on the spot when I phoned up to make them aware of the changes to our property.I had to find another insurance provider straight away. So cancelled, not a refusal to renew

That is not the sort of cancellation that a provider is looking for in the response to that question.  You had a change of circumstances that they could not offer cover on and the policy was terminated.

If you had not told them and then had a claimable event after that point and they cancelled the policy as they wouldn't have covered it, then that would be declarable.

If you are in doubt, use a broker or phone-based provider and tell them and let them decide.