Building insurance advice

[rapunzel]

Not 100% sure of best place to put this so it is under local businesses too - hope ok to post under both!

We are attempting to purchase the freehold for our building (two flats in a conversion) so I am trying to obtain insurance quotes in preparation for this.

At present the building as a whole is not insured so we would be starting from scratch. There has been recent repairs due to subsidence and underpinning was also carried out over 20 years ago.

I have seen a few recommendations on here with some members recommending a different broker each time they respond to similar enquiries.

I really want to find out if anyone has actually succeeded in obtaining insurance in a similar situation and any advice or information on costs that might help in my search. In particular did the insurers require a structural survey and if so was this arranged themselves and at what cost.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks

[Lynne]

Aviva has insured our underpinned house. They wanted a survey beforehand, but no trouble after that. A lot cheaper than the original insurers.

[Bumpkin]

NFU have given us really competitive quotes this year for house conversation previously underpinned. Think they are new to the market & gaining market share - are Which recommended

[mancity68]

Not wholly identical but elements of similarity and this broker has been great for us https://www.lansdowninsurance.com/

[Moovart]

Are you sure the building is not insured by the freeholder. It would be negligent and very risky for a freeholder to not have buildings insurance. If there was a fire and the house burnt down the freeholder would be liable. Usually the freeholder insures and then splits the cost between the leaseholders.

[rapunzel]

Are you sure the building is not insured by the freeholder. It would be negligent and very risky for a freeholder to not have buildings insurance. If there was a fire and the house burnt down the freeholder would be liable. Usually the freeholder insures and then splits the cost between the leaseholders.

 

As mentioned we are trying to purchase the freehold so I would have thought it was pretty obvious we would know if the current freeholder had insured the property!

Thank you everyone else for the helpful suggestions.

[rapunzel]

Aviva has insured our underpinned house. They wanted a survey beforehand, but no trouble after that. A lot cheaper than the original insurers.

 

Thanks Lynne. Out of interest was the underpinning carried out a while ago? Aviva were unable to help, even when I mentioned having a survey carried out, as the subsidence here was within the last 5 years.

[rapunzel]

Not wholly identical but elements of similarity and this broker has been great for us https://www.lansdowninsurance.com/

 

Great, thank you. I will give them a try

[rapunzel]

NFU have given us really competitive quotes this year for house conversation previously underpinned. Think they are new to the market & gaining market share - are Which recommended

 

Many thanks. I will give them a try

[Lynne]

Sorry, Rapunzel. Our underpinning was about 20 years before

[chris_i]

Haven't had to deal with underpinning but do have part freehold of a converted house.

Am sure by now you are aware there is a huge premium for multi-dwelling buildings. - in my experience, up to 10 times the cost of insuring a regular house. It's ridiculous. I was told that insurers assume it is a letting and therefore increase prices to account for extra risk of owners not being there to spot issues before they are serious, unreliable tenants etc. Doesn't seem to matter if both owners actually live there.

We are currently insured through https://www.towergateinsurance.co.uk who provide different kinds of "specialist" insurance so you may find them helpful.

They were very easy to deal with to setup the policy, however I can't comment on how good they are when it comes to claims - like every insurer there are some bad reviews out there.

[Sazzle30]

Hi

We were also insured with Towergate brokers under landlords insurance on the building as we share the freehold with the flat below. But it got really expensive so are now insured via the Alan Boswell group stil woth landlords building insurance. Can send you details of them via PM.

The freehold buildings insurance is joint with the flat below (we are in a Edwardian purpose built maisonette with two flats.). We were advised to get landlords insurance with both flats as tenants to ensure we weren’t duel insured (where both flats take out buildings insurance as it causes issues as to who claim on who’s policy if you need too.).

However we dont have any underpinning but an incredibly large excess for subsidence as we are in a subsidence area.

Hope this helps