Getting buildings insurance for your home in East Dulwich

[indiepanda]

Anyone had any luck finding an insurer that isn't put off by the subsidence issues this area seems to be known for?

I tried to shop around last year but left it a bit late and the companies I phoned weren't interested in quoting for buildings insurance due to known issues with the area.

My survey suggested historic issues with subsidence in my house but nothing recent. Is this par for the course round here or have any forumites had subsidence claims recently?

[spanglysteve]

I use a broker every year local to my parents called Complete Insurance Solutions and have never had a problem. They always find me a quote significantly cheaper than I could do myself. Ask for Neill Robson.

Complete Insurance Solutions

16 High Street, Dalbeattie, Dumfries & Galloway, DG5 4AA

Tel: 01556 612999

[Hawley]

You could also try Ecclesiastical who have been insuring us for the past four years.

http://www.ecclesiastical.com

[Lynne]

We're with Aviva who know we were underpinned.

[Tanday]

Legal and General will insure provided the house wasn't underpinned in the last 15 years.

[Lowlander]

Brokers are worth using in these circumstances.

I've used Adrian Flux https://www.adrianflux.co.uk/ for an underpinned place in ED.

Ecclesiastical are very good too.

It is worth phoning at least 2-3 brokers/companies to find one that suits you best for the price.

[Nanny]

I use a broker too and they selected Ecclesiastical for my renewal.

[George Orwell]

Try Bureau Insurance Services Ltd. These are brokers specialising in getting insurance for previously underpinned houses and those in 'dodgy' areas. www.bureauinsure.co.uk

We've been with them for maybe 10 years now. The insurance company they find with the best deal changes from time to time and we're happy with the service.

[alex_b]

John Lewis (underwriten by Royal Sun I think) insure us, but we're towards Peckham Rye so perhaps it's not so much cuteness of an issue here.

[Growlybear]

I've found that Endsleigh are very good at finding insurers who will cover property with historical subsidence.

[Ruskin]

We once had a renewal that was double that of the previous year. We obviously questioned it and their answer was that there were old earthworks (mines) near here and hence a risk of movement (or sinkholes, I imagine!).

I did some research and realised building insurers use geological data to determine risk. The data showed that somehow, our property in SE24 was sitting on rock (can't remember which) which was "unstable".

Our adjoining neighbour and two doors away apparently has different bed rock and vastly lower premiums. We eventually decided our insurer was using the wrong rock data but they wouldn't budge when I told them I could find no evidence of old mines beneath SE24 - so we walked away from renewing and went elsewhere. It's not been an issue again.

[Earl Aelfheah]

We've not had any issues, so I'm not sure it's a general issue to SE22.

[Penguin68]

We bought our house nearly 30 years (Underhill) ago with some slight evidence of (even then, old) cracking - over time that has, if anything, closed, and certainly we have had no visible worsening over this time. It was suggested that movement might anyway have been caused by the putative removal of a tree in our front garden, rather than any underlying instability. As the ground is clay there is always some risk of movement, which insurers like to play up, but, in, as I say, nearly 30 years I have seen few houses locally going through any remedial work linked to subsidence, and some of that was probably unnecessary (there was a fashion for that sort of thing a whilest back). Of course houses with newly dug basements and sub-basements have needed foundation work, but that is a function of the 'improvement' not of subsidence.

We have never had buildings insurance refused (or a very high charge set) and have not, in nearly 30 years, had to make any call on it.

[Pugwash]

My insurance with the Halifax increased greatly this year - trebled the amount. I queried why and was informed that SE22 and 21 was classed as a high risk area but they guy could not tell me why. I had been with Halifax ever since we had a mortgage with them in 1975 and continued to use their insurance company as was worried about not getting cover as area was known for subsidence. When I stated that I would have to look for a cheaper quote the insurance guy stated that it was cheaper to start from scratch with a new insurance from another company that Halifax now used - this was still high but no where near the amount originally quoted.

[indiepanda]

Thanks all for the replies - very helpful, will be using these suggestions to shop around on my day off.