Massive grey area

[gc100]

After our recent flood we are now worried that our house (therefore life's savings) is not actually covered by the house insurance. It seems the policies are very vague and there doesn't seem any concrete definitions. For example does the house have to be signed off, does it need all the certificates (electric etc), etc. What if you have some things not finished (for example a room, or exterior aspect).

 

Can anyone recommend an insurer that will insure between this transition from site to home? 

 

Edited February 8, 2021 by gc100

[Dave Jones]

its not really vague at all.

 

Its a building site until you have a completion cert.

 

You cannot get a completion cert if you do not have all the other signoffs in place.

[gc100]

1 minute ago, Dave Jones said:

its not really vague at all.

 

Its a building site until you have a completion cert.

 

You cannot get a completion cert if you do not have all the other signoffs in place.

 

Where does it say this? 

[Dave Jones]

say what ?

[gc100]

 

1 minute ago, Dave Jones said:

say what ?

 

"Its a building site until you have a completion cert"

[Dave Jones]

isn't it obvious ?

 

The build has not been completed hence you don't have a 'completion cert'

 

It would be chaos otherwise, mortgages are offered on a house that has been completed in law, not a shell which is semi finished.

 

The building regs list everything, in detail, which have to be complied with in order for it to be signed off as complete.

 

The insurance you need while its still a building site is called 'contractors all risk' expect to pay £3k+

 

1st google hit https://www.selfbuild.uk.com/Insurance-For-Self-Builders-faqs.aspx

Edited February 8, 2021 by Dave Jones

[Gone West]

27 minutes ago, gc100 said:

Can anyone recommend an insurer that will insure between this transition from site to home? 

We came across this problem when we had a 95% finished house with furniture in it. We weren't living in it so we changed the site insurance to unoccupied buildings insurance. This is used by landlords when altering lets before tenants move in. We told the insurance company it wasn't signed off and that it was checked regularly and they said it was the best policy for our needs.

[Dave Jones]

7 minutes ago, PeterStarck said:

We came across this problem when we had a 95% finished house with furniture in it. We weren't living in it so we changed the site insurance to unoccupied buildings insurance. This is used by landlords when altering lets before tenants move in. We told the insurance company it wasn't signed off and that it was checked regularly and they said it was the best policy for our needs.

 

 

i think you would be on a sticky wicket if a  substantial claim came up like fire etc.

[TonyT]

41 minutes ago, gc100 said:

After our recent flood we are now worried that our house (therefore life's savings) is not actually covered by the house insurance. It seems the policies are very vague and there doesn't seem any concrete definitions. For example does the house have to be signed off, does it need all the certificates (electric etc), etc. What if you have some things not finished (for example a room, or exterior aspect).

 

Can anyone recommend an insurer that will insure between this transition from site to home? 

 

I used Self Build Insurance for my insurance policy. Have a search on line for them 

[Gone West]

Just now, Dave Jones said:

 

 

i think you would be on a sticky wicket if a  substantial claim came up like fire etc.

That wasn't what we were told by the insurance company as the policy was the one recommended by them for our situation.

[Dave Jones]

Just now, PeterStarck said:

That wasn't what we were told by the insurance company as the policy was the one recommended by them for our situation.

 

i guess if you had it in writing they were insuring a house under construction and not completed they would find it hard to wriggle out.

 

My experience, they will get out if anything if they can.

[Gone West]

1 minute ago, Dave Jones said:

i guess if you had it in writing they were insuring a house under construction and not completed they would find it hard to wriggle out.

Exactly, if you tell them all the facts, and the premium is based on those facts, they don't have a lot of wriggle room. It is only the same as a landlord renovating a property before it's occupied, but in our case, living next door, we were able to check it daily rather than weekly.

[Dave Jones]

15 minutes ago, PeterStarck said:

Exactly, if you tell them all the facts, and the premium is based on those facts, they don't have a lot of wriggle room. It is only the same as a landlord renovating a property before it's occupied, but in our case, living next door, we were able to check it daily rather than weekly.

 

not really same as the landlord as a [legally] completed property. 

[gc100]

I've just renewed our site insurance. Too many unknowns.

[Gone West]

1 hour ago, Dave Jones said:

not really same as the landlord as a [legally] completed property.

That's for the insurance company to accept, as their risk, as they did for us.

[gc100]

5 minutes ago, PeterStarck said:

That's for the insurance company to accept, as their risk, as they did for us.

 

If you have it in writing from the underwriters then I suspect its fine.

[Gone West]

Just now, gc100 said:

 

If you have it in writing from the underwriters then I suspect its fine.

Yeah it was fine. It was three years ago now and it was time limited to IIRC three months so enough time to get things sorted out.

[nod]

I would say it’s a building site till you move in

We went from site insurance to full buildings and contents Three months before sign off 

[Roundtuit]

2 hours ago, nod said:

We went from site insurance to full buildings and contents Three months before sign off 

Me too. The insurers even overlapped the contents insurance for us from the house we were renting to the new place so we could move over the period of a couple of weeks and keep everything covered.

[gc100]

Just an update for those interested. The insurers refused the claim sighting the following reasons:

 

 - The property was not being used as a permanent home at the point of inception (it was a week before we moved in)
-  The property was not in a good state of repair (it was in perfect condition aside from the cladding not complete on the outside).
-  The property was not self-contained with its own lockable entrances (Yes is is self-contained and was fully locked and secure months and months before we took the policy)
 - The property was in the later stages of a renovations project with a value of over £20,000 (just the cladding work, worth no more than 3K)

 

They in the same email 'voided' the policy and revoked access to the website where the policy was stored. We made a formal compliant and they came back saying ' take it to the ombudsman.' We are now writing to the ombudsman however there is about a years back log apparently.

 

We are now struggling to get house insurance (even though the house is complete and signed off) due to the above. Cheapest quote is £800 a year !

 

Those thinking about Zinc roof be warned as this apparently is adding about £200 to the premium!!! Architects don't tell you about that.

This is going to cost us more in insurance cost increases over the next 5 years than the damage done in the first place. Double whammy. God a HATE insurance companies. 

 

Get it writing for those in the grey area.

 

 

[Oz07]

What was the claim? Why do zinc roofs add on

[gc100]

3 hours ago, Oz07 said:

What was the claim? Why do zinc roofs add on

 

Water leak.

 

No idea why insurance companies find zinc risky. I just suspect 99.8% of insurance algorithms are based on bogo standard houses and anything outside of that is seen as a risk (even if its not).

Edited August 5, 2021 by gc100

[Oz07]

Sorry I thought you meant nearby floor not literally your roof leaking. 

Insurers will always wiggle out. Hate them. 

[gc100]

14 hours ago, Oz07 said:

Sorry I thought you meant nearby floor not literally your roof leaking. 

Insurers will always wiggle out. Hate them. 

let me be clear I had a burst water pipe that flooded the house. On a separate note we finding having a zinc roof is adding a £200 premium to out insurance quotes 

[IanR]

11 minutes ago, gc100 said:

On a separate note we finding having a zinc roof is adding a £200 premium to out insurance quotes 

 

We were with Direct Line, who didn't seem to have an issue with our Aluminium (standing seam) roof and were very reasonable, but they've just pushed "high rebuild value" insurance on to another one of their brands which wasn't so competitive. 

 

We're now with Frontier Home Insurance:

 

https://www.frontierinsurance.co.uk/

 

Again, our metal roof and timber structure doesn't appear to have effected premiums, and barns and outbuildings including tools and equipment etc. very, very reasonable.

 

Their quoting tool allows you to "play" with values and gauge directly what effects the premium.