Subsidence insurance: continuation of cover during claim

Ang_ela

Hi there All,

Your advice please to help deal with the above.  I am unable to get subsidence insurance cover and am wondering if insurers are obliged to continue cover throughout a claim.

I have an ongoing claim from autumn 2022 for my house following the really hot summer that year and two trees have been implicated.  The claim is via a policy for which Midas is the underwriter and monitoring etc is being overseen by Crawfords.

On renewal in 2023, the policy was discontinued by Midas and I was given an alternative by them which continued subsidence cover albeit at a significant price increase (approx 2k).

However, this year the product has been discontinued again as it is not worthwhile for them and I cannot get any subsidence cover.

What can I do in this situation please?  Do insurers have to continue over cover or is discontinuation a way they can wriggle out of any responsibility?

Very grateful for any help.

many thanks

DullGreyGuy

The continues irrespective what happens to the policy

Midas is an MGA not an insurer, does your paperwork identify the insurer? Could be Axa, Zurich or Tokyo Marine unless they've moved their capacity again. Have you asked the underlying insurer about cover?

The FCA cannot force an insurer to continue to write a line of business etc that would cause significant issues with the work of the PRA who's job is to ensure insurers have enough capital to meet its current and future obligations. 

There is the ABI code of practice which for members means that if they continue to write business they should continue to offer terms or assist you in finding terms elsewhere if they are ceasing to write the product. Complaints to the Ombudsman can result in them taking a similar line even with non-members of the ABI. 

To get to the Ombudsman you'd first have to register a complaint with your provider and escalate if you are unhappy with their response or no response is received within 8 weeks.

Annemos

Sorry for late reply. (Holidays!) 


Yes DullGreyGuy is correct. You need to work out who the actual primary Insurer is on your policy. Midas might be the Managing General Agent who acted on their behalf. But it is the actual Primary Insurer that you need to approach. I will call that Company  PIns. 

So if Midas cannot now provide any policy with PIns, then you need to approach PIns directly for help. PIns is the one that has to provide the ongoing Insurance Cover, or arrange for cover if they can't themselves. 

One way to contact  PIns  is to look at the following website. Do the search half way down that page, to check for information about  PIns.   The info that pops up has to include the name of the person to approach within PIns about any Complaint regarding  PIns.  (In the section:  "If you have a Complaint about a Firm.... Complain to the Firm...".)

As DullGreyGuy has suggested, send a Complaint to that person about your Loss of Subsidence cover in the middle of a claim. 

https://register.fca.org.uk/s/



Also here is an example of an Ombudsman Case about this issue. It discusses some of the Ombudsman's positions.  You might need to show them a Case like this, to further convince them that they do need to help you with a new policy. (I had to do that!) 

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/decision/DRN-4190935.pdf


Hope this works out for you. In my case, the Insurer did find a new policy for me. And they also put an "endorsement" on the new one saying I was actually covered for Subsidence during the previous 6 month period when I had lost it.

Ang_ela

Thanks very much all for your advice and apols as have been acught up elsewhere.  Will follow-up as you say and share waht happens.  Very much appreciated