Nr Complete New Build. Site Insurance vs Standard Property Insurance

[GHDirect]

Hi All

 

I have personally built most of our bungalow over past 6 years but still have much inside cosmetic work to complete.

My spouse has developed a heart issue so we had to move into the property from the drafty site caravan.

My issue is I pay Buildstore approx £1000 P.A for site cover most of which I no longer require.

I do not intend to have any contractors, my plant (old digger and dumper) are not worth much, I have a couple of storage containers and the caravan is now sitting deemed scrap.

I admit at my pace it will be some 12 months before I can ask Building Control to sign off along with my 10 year warranty.

Can anyone advise whether I could buy a standard house and contents policy without building sign off as this would cover my risk and typically save me some useful money.

 

GHDirect

 

 

 

 

 

[newhome]

You can't get a standard policy without declaring that it's not finished and doesn't yet have a completion certificate. Well you can but you probably wouldn't be covered if you tried to claim. Once you declare that the house is still in construction most insurers won't offer you a policy or will offer it at a much higher cost. £1000 sounds quite high though so maybe you can try to get a new self build quote using Protek or similar, or at least get another quote from somewhere else that you can use to bargain with. 

 

Be very careful about having moved into the property if you haven't yet applied for the VAT reclaim. It's becoming a lottery in terms of whether HMRC will allow a reclaim more than 3 months after you've moved in when often they deem that the property is habitable and therefore complete. Plenty of info in this thread. 
 

 

[Temp]

You don't need to be totally finished to get a completion certificate. We had no kitchen, a missing wood burner and two bathrooms not finished when we got ours. The downside is you (probably) can't claim VAT back on anything purchased after completion.

 

In my case during the final inspection they checked... 

 

Coated glass (tested every pane with a meter, didn't care one was wrong way around)

Safety glass (kite sign or similar on every pane)

Electrics (paperwork)

Pressure tested drains (we had to provide the kit, think toolstation/screwfix sell one)

Ventilation (some questions asked during walk around)

 

Apart from a visual check I think that was it. These days you might need a bit more?