Subsidence advice - what would you do?

[wee quinnie]

I know there are many subsidence threads on here, and I have consulted them. But here's the gen:

My next door neighbour has just been landed with an insurance renewal quote from her broker for ?1500. This is a jump of 500 quid from last year. I have rung a specialist broker who has basically told me that they cannot do a whole lot better than this figure. Last year she spotted a crack in her house which turned out to be purely cosmetic and thus she got no dosh for that, but it registers as a claim (the surveyor charged the insurer in excess of a grand for a visit which lasted about 15 minutes - on the plus side there was also a letter saying previous work has held well and NO SIGN OF ANY MOVEMENT). No one seems to be budging on this one. Current advice is either pay up 1500 quid, or re-insure excluding subsidence (probs cost of 700 quid), or try and haggle with extremely uninterested insurance company.

Would like to know if anyone has any constructive advice, as my little old lady neighbour was in tears over this, earlier today.

[Lowlander]

You need to contact a few specialist brokers to compare, you may or may not get a lower quote, but the cost should go down over a few years to something more manageable.

Adrian Flux / Ember JD are good, or search here http://www.biba.org.uk/CustomerHome.aspx picking contents and then subsidence..

[Marmora Man]

I was locked in to a specialist insurer as a condition of original mortgage. I then commissioned a specialist structural engineer survey which demonstrated that subsidence was not a significant problem and that existing foundations and, some existing, underpinning were entirely satisfactory. T'is reduced my annual premium by > ?750 which, over the subsequent 3 years more than paid for the survey.

An option worth investigating.

[wee quinnie]

Lowlander Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> You need to contact a few specialist brokers to

> compare, you may or may not get a lower quote, but

> the cost should go down over a few years to

> something more manageable.

>

> Adrian Flux / Ember JD are good, or search here

> http://www.biba.org.uk/CustomerHome.aspx picking

> contents and then subsidence..

The options i outlined in my original quote are from a specialist broker

!:(