hOUSE BUILDINGS INSURANCE - subsidence history

Jocten

Hi there,

The alternative number for the Subsidence Claims Advisory Bureau is 01424 220110 .

I am currently with Towergate (subsidence history of less than 10 years), and the premium is around the £450 mark, for buildings & contents. The company above quoted around the same, plus a one off fee of £150 for them to carry out their own survey. This is much cheaper than having to shell out for a structural report at a cost of £500 plus.

For now, I'll stick with Towergate, but as soon as my 10 years are up, it'll be AXA for me.........hopefully.

My beef with the insurance companies, is that the problem from a neighbour's mature tree roots, only affected my detached, prefabricated garage floor, which is a simple concrete plinth, (repaired now) and has no foundations to worry about. The house was not affected at all by the root damage, but insurers still include the house under the "subsidence heading", ie, the property.

Regards,

Jocten.

blackjack100

Hi

I have the same problem, in had a subsidence claim for a brick/breeze block garage that was at the end of my garden not attached to the property. The garage was built on a slab and has since been knocked down, slab removed and a new slab laid and I have replaced it with a timber frame games room.

Tesco put my insurance up to over the £700 mark but I’m having trouble gaining other quotes to compare prices.

dacouch

blackjack100 wrote: »

Hi

I have the same problem, in had a subsidence claim for a brick/breeze block garage that was at the end of my garden not attached to the property. The garage was built on a slab and has since been knocked down, slab removed and a new slab laid and I have replaced it with a timber frame games room.

Tesco put my insurance up to over the £700 mark but I’m having trouble gaining other quotes to compare prices.

Who was the actual Insurer when you made the claim.

Note Tesco are the brand name, they were not the Insurer.

largosoft

Same topic, but slightly different....

I'm looking online at renewing insurance for my 89 year old gran. In 1994 she asked her insurers to check a crack on her outside wall in case it was subsidence. The insurers sent out a structural engineer who produced a report to say that it wasn't subsidence or heave that had caused the crack.

I just tried to change her policy from Direct Line to Admiral & was told over the phone that because the property had been "monitored" for subsidence in the last 15 years they won't insure her. There was no work done, no claim made and she has written proof from the structural engineer that her property was fine.

So, following earlier posts the AXA website asks the question "To the best of your knowledge has your property experienced subsidence or heave in the last 10 years?"

Can I answer no as we have an experts proof in writing that wasn't the case. In fact it's probably a more true answer than most could give.

Advice greatly appreciated.

rs65

1994 was 20 years ago.

Kernel_Sanders

largosoft wrote: »

the AXA website asks the question "To the best of your knowledge has your property experienced subsidence or heave in the last 10 years?"

Can I answer no as we have an experts proof in writing that wasn't the case.

Of course you can. In fact putting 'yes' would be a false answer.
However, you must also answer 'yes' if they ask if insurance has been refused on the property.

largosoft

Sorry, bad maths. It was 2004. I just knew it was 10 years ago and calculated wrong!

With regards the "if they ask if insurance was refused" the kind lady on the end of the phone simply said the policy would be refused if I continued, so advised we don't proceed. Is that the same as actually being refused the insurance?

uk03054

Thanks to the advise on this site I just phoned L&G for a quote including subsidence history (More than 15 years ago) and I saved £600 on the renewal I had from Barclays. Brilliant result. Would recommend you do the basic quote online (to get the L&G online discount) and then phone up to add the subsidence history. They did it for the same price as the online quote. great result!

piratepaul

I try every year to check the market and found as others have that Legal And General ask the question re subsidence in last 15 years (mine's 11 years) and Axa re 10 years. I [EMAIL="CAN@T"]CANT[/EMAIL] FIND ANYONE ELSE - CAN ANYONE ELSE HELP ON THIS. L&G won't touch my postcode in South East now but Axa proved cheaper than who i was insured with before for years (so I should be happy). I wanted to switch between L&G/Axa each year rather than get the annual premium hike but can't do that now. Other than Towergate/Adrian Flux/Specialists and similar who can cover and are more expensive and need surveys I can't find anyone who has a time question rather than 'ever had' subsidence. Annoying when our houses are prob stronger!

yellowdots

I found this thread last night as my building insurance renewal is due and I also have had previous subsidence on a front bay window which had been underpinned 17 years ago and is absolutely fine now.

Each year I phone around to try and change insurers as my premiums have been rocketing and my insurance brokers were so rude to me last year when I was trying to explain how old the problem was.

I did a quick online quote last night and then I phoned Legal & General during my lunchtime at work to confirm that if the subsidence was older than 15 years they would definitely insure me and at the premium in my quote.

Not only did they confirm yes they would insure me but also that the rate had changed overnight and would be even lower than my quote! :j

I am so happy to have finally been able to change insurers after all these years of feeling ripped off.

I have saved £344!!! My premium would have been £420 a year and my new premium with Legal & General is £76

Wow what a difference, thank you to the people who mentiond this, I feel a huge burden has been lifted from me. :T