insurance unoccupied home building materials

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MarcoM
MarcoM Posts: 798 Forumite
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in Insurance & life assurance
Hello,


I have unoccupied insurance for the house I am currently having refurbuished. The policy does not cover unfixed building materials and I will soon be getting delivery of a kitchen and bathroom which will be unfixed for a while whilst the work goes on.


The insurer says they cannot insure these materials until they are fixed. This sounds like the usual insurance rip off.
Has anyone been in the same position? Is there any standalone policy I can buy anywhere else?
I don't really want to have a kitchen worth 8k uninsured.


Regards,

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  • Nasqueron
    Nasqueron Posts: 8,836 Forumite
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    It's hardly a rip-off, easy scam for a person and a builder to pull, goods delivered, get "stolen", builder uses the "stolen" goods at his next job and charges next customer for goods he got for nothing and first home owner claims the goods back on insurance, builder bungs first guy £500 for his trouble
  • Weighty1
    Weighty1 Posts: 1,181 Forumite
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    How's it a rip-off? They are telling you it's not insured, hardly trying to rip you off there are they?
  • Quentin
    Quentin Posts: 40,405 Forumite
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    Your builder should have all risks cover


    Ask them to confirm they have all risks to include unfixed materials - ask for a copy of the cert/policy if you are worried
  • MarcoM
    MarcoM Posts: 798 Forumite
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    Quentin wrote: »
    Your builder should have all risks cover


    Ask them to confirm they have all risks to include unfixed materials - ask for a copy of the cert/policy if you are worried

    would this cover a kitchen supplied by a third party?
  • Quentin
    Quentin Posts: 40,405 Forumite
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    Ask them!!

    Presumably the builder doesn't manufacture any materials, but all are bought in
  • Chickenlips
    Chickenlips Posts: 150 Forumite
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    Is it specifically excluded? If not, why can it not be considered contents? That's the way I'd deal with with it, provided there isn't a specific exclusion for yet-to-be-installed materials.
  • jonesMUFCforever
    jonesMUFCforever Posts: 28,898 Forumite
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    Chickenlips wrote: »
    Is it specifically excluded? If not, why can it not be considered contents? That's the way I'd deal with with it, provided there isn't a specific exclusion for yet-to-be-installed materials.

    Perhaps because the house is unoccupied - there is no contents cover?
  • Dangermac
    Dangermac Posts: 557 Forumite
    edited 15 June 2019 at 1:13PM
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    MarcoM wrote: »
    Hello,


    I have unoccupied insurance for the house I am currently having refurbuished. The policy does not cover unfixed building materials and I will soon be getting delivery of a kitchen and bathroom which will be unfixed for a while whilst the work goes on.


    The insurer says they cannot insure these materials until they are fixed. This sounds like the usual insurance rip off.
    Has anyone been in the same position? Is there any standalone policy I can buy anywhere else?
    I don't really want to have a kitchen worth 8k uninsured.


    Regards,

    People like you, who quote 'rip off' without any justification, need education regarding how insurance works. Insurance policies do not cover everything. Some policies are wider than others. What is important is that the relevant exclusions are communicated to you in order that you can take the appropriate action.

    As Quentin says below, you can request that your builder has Contract Works cover, however, what needs to be added is that it would also be necessary for your builder to be responsible for the works up until handover to you, as the homeowner. Without the builder being responsible for the works, it wont matter whether he has Contract Works insurance or not. He needs insurable (financial) interest.

    Also, it does not necessarily matter whether the builder has provided the kitchen/bathroom materials or not. A Contract Works policy can cover 'free issue materials'. But the key is that the builder must have accepted responsibility for this up until handover to the homeowner, you.

    It is unlikely that a Contents policy will cover will cover unfixed buildings materials, and you may find that your policy has a specific exclusion for this (common for unoccupied buildings policies)

    Finally, you can purchase your own Contract Works policy, but this does not tend to happen for smaller projects.

    Hope this helps.

    DM
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