I am looking for buildings insurance for a house I am buying.?

Question

I am concerned about the question that says if I have made any claims in the past 5 years. I have had insurance for houses since 1968,and only claimed once in the 70s,when a chemical factory blew up. However,I have not had buildings insurance since September 2006,as I was in a flat in Torquay,where the service charge covered insurance. For the past 4 months I have lived in a rented property,again paying no insurance. So I cant honestly say I have been insured for the past 5 years.Will I be regarded as a new buyer? Is this fair? Do you have any advice as to how I can tell them this? Thanks

Answer 1

Insurance Companies just require to know if claiming is a trend for you as a policyholder.  It has nothing to do with whether you are a new buyer or not.

Answer 2

You can claim that you've had no claims in the last five years and that information would be adequate to avoid misrepresentation. In order to qualify for a claims free discount you would need to provide the company name and policy number of all of your persoanl property insurance policies (i.e. policies that list you as the policyholder) for the last five years. Since the last policy you had in your name was almost a year and a half ago (hope you still have a copy of the policy) you may not qualify for any discount. You will have to find a broker, give them all of the information you have and see what they can do with it.

Answer 3

No you will be fine. Home insurance is not nearlly as touchy as car insurance. They will run a report and know that you have not made any claims. They didn't even have the ability to keep track of claims in the 70's so don't worry about that. The company really won't care that you have not had home insurance. Because it is less about the person who holds the policy and more about the risk factor of the home in general. Where as with car insurance it is the driver that is making the car a risk when he drives it irrisponsibly. If an insurance company drops you because you drive like an idiot then you will have a really hard time getting car insurance again. But with a home its not the same. People rarely make claims in home insurance and a lot people rent instead of buy so it isn't a big deal that you have never had home insurance again.

Answer 4

Just a suggestion, be honest.  The best house insurance and contents insurance I have found is with (believe it or not) Barclay's Bank. I have a house worth over 160,000. and for 26.00 pm includes 50,000. contents cover.

But look around and compare prices, there shouldn't be any problem with the fact you have not had insurance for a while or that you had a claim before.  

Good Luck.

Answer 5

There doesn't seem to be any problem - you declare you have had no claims (or incidents that could have led to a claim).

Please note that a 'no claims bonus' in house insurance is much less than in car insurance and the question is more to ecide if claims are more likely in the future than to give you an extra discount. Also: most insurers do not regard bonus in quite the same way.

It is up to the insurer to decide whether you will be treated as a 'new buyer' - all you can do is answer the questions correctly and see what the result is.

(Or for better advice and a range of insurers go to a broker - that way you'll be sure to get the cover you expect).

Answer 6

The question is if you have made claims, not if you had insurance.

In any event, you could have made claims on the building insurance for the flat as the insurance was in place. The same goes for the rented property.

The answer, from what you say, is that you have not made any claims.