Home Insurance Discussion

dbs

I ended up phoning a broker who was recommended who sorted it out within ten minutes with a good quote which I accepted.

Price wise it depends where in the country your house is.

stevemarsh1976

Smileycat wrote: »

I am buying a house and trying to sort out home insurance before I complete in a couple of weeks. One of the questions that keeps coming up is whether the property is within 400m of water, which it is - a small river and the property has never flooded. But when I answer yes to this question, it doubles the insurance quote from less than £200 to around £400.
However, when you use comparison sites like Compare the Market, it does not usually ask this question and generates a cheap quote; then when you click on an individual quote for more info or to buy, and check the details, I then have to change it to say the property is near water - which doubles the price of the quote.
Is there a comparison website that will let me specify that the property is near water to start with? Otherwise it seems like I can generate a bunch of quotes but then have to go into each one individually and change that particular answer, so then the quotes are no longer ordered by price and I have no idea which would be the cheapest.
Also, does anyone else have this problem and how much roughly should I expect to pay to insure a 2 bedroom terraced house that happens to be near a small river?

Its how comparisson sites work they base the initial quotations on a lot of assumptions which draws you in then gets you to complete the rest via the insurers own website.

Try a local broker for something like this as they can speak directly to underwriters if its only a small body of water and not in a flood risk area im sure it can be resolved easy enough.

Jim02

Hi,

My house was built as a 4-bed, but the previous owners knocked two bedrooms into one to make a large master bedroom.

Question is: do I call it a 4-bed or 3-bed house when applying for insurance? 3-bed seems to be cheaper, but will that then affect the payouts? I've put in realistic market value and rebuild costs.

Thanks
J

gaily

Jim02

I'd call a spade a spade - if it's got 3 bedrooms then call it 3.

We have a room at the front of our house that we used as a bedroom for a number of years until we had an extension done. It's now our dining room - I don't count it as a bedroom when getting quotes (although I may call it a 3 or 4 bedroom house if we ever sell it!). The questionniares never ask for room sizes - so it could be a box room, or a huge ensuite, and still only 1 room.

Jim02

My house is also within 400 metres of water. But there are several acres of flood plain should it ever burst its banks, and the slope of the terrain coupled with the height of my house above my drive means that I know I'll never get flooded - it's just impossible.

I answer 'no' to the 400m question, as I'm not prepared to pay a premium for an impossible event. I'm guessing that if I ever put in a claim for, say, a broken roof tile, the inspector isn't going to refuse my claim just because he can see a river 100 yards away.

It really annoys me that such a stupid criteria is used for flood risk. I guess they have to do something, but a single question like this does nothing but line the pockets of the insurers as risk-free property-owners are asked to cough up.

I'm happy to accept that if my house floods, I won't be covered.

Jim02

gaily wrote: »

Jim02

I'd call a spade a spade - if it's got 3 bedrooms then call it 3.

We have a room at the front of our house that we used as a bedroom for a number of years until we had an extension done. It's now our dining room - I don't count it as a bedroom when getting quotes (although I may call it a 3 or 4 bedroom house if we ever sell it!). The questionniares never ask for room sizes - so it could be a box room, or a huge ensuite, and still only 1 room.

That's what I'm really tempted to do - I'm just worried that - if an aeroplane falls on the house (and we're not in it!), whether the insurance company would cough up.

Just wondered if anybody had any horror stories that might deter me!

Brodiebobs

The company i work for asks how would you resell it, we had a few people who had 'studies', 'dining rooms'and 'playrooms' who said they would re-sell as a 4 or 5 bed but declared 3 or 4.

So i presume if the wall had been removed you would re-sell as a 3 bed so not lying!

Jim02 wrote: »

That's what I'm really tempted to do - I'm just worried that - if an aeroplane falls on the house (and we're not in it!), whether the insurance company would cough up.

Just wondered if anybody had any horror stories that might deter me!

gaily

Brodiebobs - i think you and I are on the same page here!!!!!

(But seeing as I work in insurance, i'm not going to stick my neck out as to how a company would pay out in case of a claim. I pay more to be with an insurer i am fairly sure will set 'reasonable' claims expectations/payments, but wouldn't like to comment on how the rest of the market would react)

Brodiebobs

exactly gaily i understand what you mean, but you have to realise the event of a total loss is very rare and a total loss where there isnt any indication or the plan of the original building is nearing on impossible, theres always previous sale reports, land registry, planning applications etc, etc, so be honest!

rlfan82

Has anybody got advice on how to search for an insurance policy for a house which has a mine entry within 20m. My mortgage provider has told me I must flag it up on an insurance policy but it doesnt appear on the search screens. One company just rang me up and then ran scared when I mentioned it, obviously not from the North!