Where do I turn?

FunLovinCriminal

Hi all

We bought our house in 2008 and had a basic survey on the property.

We remortgaged in 2012, and the new mortgage provider came out to assess and value the property. When he did this, he popped his head in the loft. Oh. This was never picked up on basic survey, but the previous owners had (without permission) turn loft into kids play room, and removed strutts in the loft to prevent kids from hitting head (!). We remortgaged with them with the advice thatthe strutts were replaced, which we did.

Kids came along and life moved on.

Fast forward to last december, leak in bathroom coming from ceiling/loft. Trusted workmen came round to inspect and said the replacement strutts were not fitted correctly, and recommended to be replaced. Had a 2nd opinion, rlthey agreed.

So we got an architect, drew up plans and joiner replaced. Architect inspected and provided an official document saying loft/roof is fine.

Phew.

So my question. For 18 years the home insurancr we have used have not known about this. Do we say when we renew?. Do we have to?

We live in scotland, do we need to inform the council, like we would if we wanted planning permission for like a garage conversion?

We are getting older, and it its stressing us out, especially as if the kids need to sell the house when we die, we wouldnt want this to cause an issue etc.

Advice please

user1977

No on the insurance, you only need to answer questions the insurers ask you, not start chatting to them about stuff you think they might want to know. Though bear in mind that "fixing past dodgy workmanship" isn't likely to be one of your insured risks anyway.

Not sure whether strictly speaking you need a Building Warrant for the work, didn't you ask the architect? In what way was their document "official"?

FunLovinCriminal

Thanks for the response. The concern was it was trusses holding the roof up, I understand the dodgy workmanship comment, but its a roof/loft rather than a little diy disaster around the house. Thats put my mind at ease though.

The document states the roof trusses reinstalled are sufficient replacements to hold the roof intact.

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82109971#Comment_82109971

The laws on insurance and disclosures are in a peice of legisation CIDRA, it states that you must answer all questions honestly and accurately and lays out the consequences if the insurer subsequently finds out you have provided false information, both if you did it intentionally/recklessly or if you did it carelessly.

It also states that insurers cannot expect you to tell them about things they neither ask about nor include in assumptions that you have to agree to plus questions must be specific, they cant add a catch all "is there anything else you need to tell us about" at the end.

This sort of thing would normally be caught up in one of the assumptions/declarations, that your home is in a good state of repair. Had you had a problem before getting it fixed you may have had an issue with a claim if the insurer had spotted the problem however that is a moot point as you didnt have any problems and its now fixed. Insurers dont ask if the house has ever not been in a good state of repair, just its current state so nothing to declare going forward.

FunLovinCriminal

Thank you. Very clear answer, we appreciate it.

Now we need to look at the council. We believe that the council need to inspect

Albermarle

Maybe worth mentioning that lofts that have not been fully converted into a habitable space with a full and expensive loft conversion, should NOT be used as a children's playroom, or home office or hobby room etc as they can be a deathtrap in a fire due to the lack of a proper staircase. Also the floor is not properly reinforced.