Cancelled building insurance - subsidence

tostaky

Hello,
We bought the house in august 2023 and naively took a different insurance than the previous owners. The house teport said there was some cracks so we obtained a structural engineer report that said it was unlikely due to subsidence. When i got the quote, again naively, i answered “no” to the questions “are some bricks show some damage that could be cause by subsidence”. We also failed to do a CCTV surveys of the drainage system as indicated in the report… Anyway… the insurance (MBNA) says that i have lied (!!!!) and they have cancelled our policy… 
1. How do i find out how to get insurance (ii’ll probably need it when i want to renew my mortgage?)
2. What do we do about the subsidence…? we have now done the CCTV survey of the drains and they want £4k to repair a couple of very small cracks… and that is before the two “unknown drains” have been investigated and that the wall is being repaired…
3. can someone share the winning numbers to the lottery please!! 

Thanks in advance

dunstonh

. The house teport said there was some cracks so we obtained a structural engineer report that said it was unlikely due to subsidence. When i got the quote, again naively, i answered “no” to the questions “are some bricks show some damage that could be cause by subsidence”.

If you have obtained a structural engineers report that stated that said it was unlikely related to subsidence then you have had a professional assessment that you can rely on.  Plus, most cracks in bricks are down to movement rather than subsidence.

Although if the tone of the report was more inconclusive, then the answer may have been better yes.  Or better still, use a better quality insurer that would look at the structural engineers report (such as NFU).

1. How do i find out how to get insurance (ii’ll probably need it when i want to renew my mortgage?)

It is a condition of your mortgage that you have buildings insurance.   They can apply for repossession if they find out you do not have insurance.

2. What do we do about the subsidence…? we have now done the CCTV survey of the drains and they want £4k to repair a couple of very small cracks… and that is before the two “unknown drains” have been investigated and that the wall is being repaired…

Do you have subsidence or do you have movement?  
Most houses in our area have cracks, especially in drought years.  Most will be movement because of shallow foundations on clay.   Quality insurers do not bat an eyelid with minor cracking (typically grade 3 or lower on the scale).   That said, most of the time, the homeowners in our area wouldn't use the insurer for repairs and treat any cracks as routine maintenance.

You probably need to avoid the comparison site style home insurance policies and go with the quality ones.  Especially if you have a structural engineers report that gives a grading for the cracks and says its unlikely to be subsidence.     Mild movement is not scary or a concern for quality insurers.    Subsidence is what they don't really want.   So, you need to be clear on what yours actually is.

user1977

dunstonh said:

It is a condition of your mortgage that you have buildings insurance.   They can apply for repossession if they find out you do not have insurance.

In theory yes. Rather more likely that they'd just arrange insurance and charge you for it.

tostaky

I think it is more a case of movement due to a cracked rainwater drain (in clay). 
is there any points in complaining to my current insurance?

tostaky

I have tried to use "quotes" but i have failed in making it work!

NFU says they wont be able to offer insurance if we had our insurance cancelled.
How do i find about quality insurance companies if i dont use a comparator? 

many thanks

BarelySentientAI

NFU Mutual.