Home insurance question for joint ownership?

Smithcom

MyRealNameToo said:

Smithcom said:

MyRealNameToo said:

Smithcom said:

It's not an exactly identical situation, but see Decision Reference DRN6717602  re problematic claim regarding insurable interest.

There's other cases (and legal discussions) regarding the issue of insurable interest on the internet.

MyRealNameToo - your advice on this forum is genuinely worrying, and assumes the benevolent nature of insurers to pay for a claim beyond the extent of their policyholder's loss.

In my extensive experience, I haven't come across too many benevolent insurers.

SC 

That is a totally unrelated matter, they insured a property under a landlord policy when actually a LTD owned the property. I already acknowledged there are many cases on the FOS and several on here where people have done similarly. 

We are explicitly talking about co-ownership and stating that the insured can only claim up to their proportion of ownership despite the policy documents stating they are insured for the full rebuild value of the property with no reference to proportion owned. Remembering that ownership is not the only mechanism that creates insurable interest.

It would be unprudent to rely on benevolence of an insurer but there are plenty of examples on here of it... look at any thread on NCDs and you'll see many accounts of insurers allowing the widow(er) to inherit their deceased spouses entitlement.  You can however rely on legislation and on the terms in the policy book rather than benevolence. 

Yes, an insurer may allow a widow(er) to take over an NCD, but this is a long-standing industry tradition, and does not affect the insurer's claims pot.   Insurers currently are working very hard to avoid 'claims leakage'

You seem to forget how the claims pot is filled in the first place.

It does surprise me that you want to keep this thread running.  I wouldn't, if I were you.

Bear in mind that:

1. Transfer of NCD between spouses is a longstanding industry tradition
2. Whilst such transfer of NCD might reduce the insurer's premium, there's a difference between a justifiable premium discount/reduction, and claims leakage.
3. Often, the reduced premium is actually with another insurer (if the spouse insures with another firm).

Going back to the initial query, let me know if you need any further information on the issue of insurable interest, and the potential consequences of getting it wrong

SC