Important. You should read this before proceeding. TWO QUOTES ARE BETTER THAN ONE.
That’s why we offer you two options. For higher risk insurance in particular we strongly recommend that in addition to clicking the online link below, you also complete and submit the call-back form lower down this page. This way you will receive top quality advice and quotes from two independent specialists enabling you to compare cover and costs before you decide.
Specialist House Insurance for more complex circumstances such as:-
- Flood Risk
- Subsidence
- Unusual Construction
- Listed Buildings
- Unoccupied Properties
- Holiday Homes
- Criminal Records
- Bad Credit History
- Northern Ireland
| Insurance Choice is your specialist insurance broker for everything non-standard. We can find you cover for the most extreme risks at the most competitive prices.
Get A Quote An immediate quote can be obtained online. |
We have worked in conjunction with UK insurers for many years to provide specialist insurance’s for UK consumers. As a result of this and in combination with many of the UK’s major insurance providers we are now able to give you access to House Insurance suitable for properties subject to a higher than normal risk of flooding, properties that have experienced subsidence and clients who may have criminal records.
Our highly experienced specialists have appeared on BBC Television providing advice on such problems.
We recommend that you complete the ring back request form below and we will endeavour to contact you within one hour. Please leave details if possible enabling us to contact you during office hours (Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm).
Subsidence Affected & Underpinned Properties
The housing market is in a very complex position although values are rising its still a buyers market Something that can greatly affect the chances of selling your house and can be quite common! Is if it has ever faced issues over subsidence or landslip caused usually by poor soil such as London clay or mining area or perhaps just badly laid foundations such as a property that has been extended or even has bay windows fitted without adequate building control so for example, one of 2 things can happen either the extension has weak foundations so the extra weight of the extension makes the house subside or that the foundation of the house were not strengthened so the weight of the extension affects the house.
Also in times of poor weather or dry spells tree roots can either weaken the foundations or break drain pipes so the house will fall over. This is easily repaired with underpinning.
Not forgetting older houses that can settle with age producing cracks. Often fixed with stay bars through the property those metal X’s or circular plates on the side of older houses are in fact a huge nut and bolt working like a corset.
One of the most ridiculous scenarios that can occur is problems with garages that are often on a separate piece of land away from the home often these were jerry built on spare land without foundations and they do subside but if this happens you may be able to get insurance.
The mainstream insurers take a very panicky approach as soon as you mention any subsidence or cracking even if you are not thinking of selling you make struggle getting cover please remember even if you don’t think you have been asked you must notify the insurer otherwise any claim will be rejected as insurers do share claims information. It is best that seek an insurance broker who understands the complexities of this type of property especially one that does not demand additional and costly survey reports and can turnaround quotations within day or less Don’t panic you will be pleasantly surprised to find that specialist cover should not be expensive. In an ideal world if you already have cover in force on an underpinned property it should be a straight. Process to pass this to the buyer sadly this does not happen so the sale falls through a true specialist can pick up the pieces at the last possible moment offer a sensible premium that automatically passes to any future buyer no one else can make that promise It is very very unethical for insurers not to do so but sadly insurance has become blighted by the “COMPUTER SAYS NO” mentality.
Testimonials
Our home has a “history” of subsidence when, in 1989, the house was adversely affected by the close proximity of trees whose roots were drawing water from beneath the house. As our home dates from the Victorian period when foundations were not as substantial as contemporary builds, cracks developed on the front and back walls. Removal of the trees corrected the problem, but now our home has an insurance history which tends to frighten the majority of companies.
This is further complicated since 2007 by an industry fear of any properties near a watercourse. I have been asked if we live within 30m, 150m, 250m, even 1000m of a watercourse that has flooded in the past. Despite the fact that our house has never been flooded, our proximity to the local dyke which affected our neighbours, severely restricted our ability to obtain insurance. Until we were given your telephone number by the National Flood Forum, no one wanted to know about our flood defences since 2007 or steps that the local council had taken to minimize backflow due to a silted up road bridge and the cleaning of local drains.
We’re still getting junk mail advertising discounted prices for home insurance, but the minute you tell the “advisor” at Saga, Churchill, More Than and others that you have history, they don’t want to know. Or if a company is willing to give a quote, it can be as much as £1400 for a small, three-bedroom house. We were insured through Saga for 12 months. When our renewal papers arrived, I noticed that one of the declarations had changed from “The property has never been flooded” (2008) to “the property is not within 150m of a watercourse that has flooded” (2009). When I informed them that the declaration was now a Yes, Saga refunded part payment without actually saying that the policy was cancelled. My oversight regarding this credit at that time meant that we were without cover for 11 months.
Millions of people in the UK have a history of subsidence, 80% due to trees. Millions of people also live near streams and rivers and, with more unpredictable weather due to climate change, those people often find themselves unable to obtain affordable cover. I know that 2 of our neighbours have no insurance at this time.
Although our new policy is a bit more expensive than in the past, it is not excessive considering that the underwriters are assuming a slightly elevated level of risk. Neil, thank you for helping us through a very worrying and frustrating period.
We are the owners of a property in Waterloo St, Cockermouth, Cumbria CA13. Cockermouth was subject to a catastrophic flood in November 2009 and our house was under seven foot of water. We have since moved out into another property and decided to let out our house in Cockermouth. This property has been reinstated and we have been attempting to secure insurance at a realistic and reasonable rate. This has proved to be very difficult. We have been told by numerous insurance companies that they are not quoting for our postcode, and were informed by our existing insurers that the new policy premium would be between £3,000 and £5,000 per annum, possibly more, with a very considerable excess. They would also require a lot of documentation including a government report on the flooding risk at our property. This seemed unreasonable and unduly onerous. In desperation we contacted the National Flood Forum who put us in touch with Neil Cook at Equity and General. Neil was in a position to offer insurance immediately that was both affordable and reasonable. We are very grateful to Neil for his assistance and the sympathetic manner in which he handled our circumstances he quoted a premium 75% less than we had been offered.
You know how it is…. You see the house you want, and you fall in love with it. Everything was in place – the house had no chain, the finance was affordable, my offer was accepted…. It should have been a real formality to complete. As the sale proceeded, my Conveyancer discovered that the property had been subject to a recent subsidence claim; As a result the mortgage offer was subject to my ability to obtain insurance cover.
At that point I should have pulled out. Like most people, I hear ‘subsidence’ and think ‘trouble’ – but luckily my wife, being a clever woman, read the details and explained that it shouldn’t be a problem. We were so emotionally sold on the house that we kept going. I contacted a subsidence ‘specialist’ broker, who told me he couldn’t offer a policy, as the claim was so recent, but that the current insurer was obliged to offer cover. It would be ok – people were helping and advising us, and they would know what to do.
Or so I thought.
My financial advisor had been very keen to obtain insurance for me, so I put the matter in her hands – after all, she had access to “all of the market” at her finger tips (she did keep telling me this). Weeks went by….. And the matter was unresolved, and getting nowhere. I went in to her office, because it had become clear that I had to manage this myself. This resulted in several days of personal enquiries, phone calls, emails …. And by now I was worried. No-one would offer me cover. I would give details, to hear “Oh, I’m sorry – we don’t cover that postcode area”, or “We only insure over 50′s” – and even to get this far I had negotiated the automated phone line, and given the same details three times. My enquires with the current insurer were no better – I just couldn’t get past the first hurdle.
My wife and I discussed it that night, and we went to bed pretty much resigned to the thought that we would lose the house.
I couldn’t sleep, so at 1am I got up, went on line and started searching again. I saw the website, and decided that yet another enquiry wouldn’t hurt.
Neil called me in the morning, and immediately I knew that this would be different. Neil knew exactly what I had been facing, and exactly why – better than that, he knew how to get me the cover that I needed. Finally, after being given the run-around by systems and processes, I was in the hands of someone who knew how to get through it all for MY benefit, and wouldn’t give up at the first sign of trouble.
I called my wife; This was a very happy call, as once again the dream is on!
When you think about insurance, it is one of those chores that everyone deals with. Now the internet is a wonderful thing, (its how I found Neil!) and it has certainly changed the way we buy insurance and similar products; Trouble is, when you do not fit the perfect profile in every way, the computer leaves you stranded.
Thanks Neil – Get me that quote! NEIL GOT ME THAT QUOTE!
