The house that I am buying (3-bed detached in suburban estate) is coming
near to exchange of contracts and I decided to ring up my existing insurer
(esure) to arrange buildings insurance. They told me they wouldn't cover
that post code full stop because of subsidence. All the other insurers I
have had online quotes from today have not mentioned a problem and the
premiums (around £100-200 annual) have not been much more than my current
house (2-bed semi just up the road). Even Halifax and rbs which are supposed
to be in the same group have had no problems offering cover This of course
sent me into a panic and may mean I need a full survey done. Could this be
down to esure cherry picking and refusing based on some minor land slide
claim they have had in the past or should I be seriously worried?

Also the homebuyer professional book that come back with the searches says
it is low risk for subsidence - the post code is NN8 5ZB if anyone can tell
me any more. The lady at esure mentioned something about 10% but not sure
what that means.

"Jacob Rosse" wrote in message
.com...
The house that I am buying (3-bed detached in suburban estate) is coming
near to exchange of contracts and I decided to ring up my existing insurer
(esure) to arrange buildings insurance. They told me they wouldn't cover
that post code full stop because of subsidence.
Also the homebuyer professional book that come back with the searches says
it is low risk for subsidence - the post code is NN8 5ZB if anyone can
tell
me any more. The lady at esure mentioned something about 10% but not sure
what that means.

Probably they had one house there with a slight problem and knocked out the
whole neighbourhood.

"G&M" wrote in message
...

"Jacob Rosse" wrote in message
.com...
The house that I am buying (3-bed detached in suburban estate) is
coming
near to exchange of contracts and I decided to ring up my existing
insurer
(esure) to arrange buildings insurance. They told me they
wouldn't cover
that post code full stop because of subsidence.
Also the homebuyer professional book that come back with the
searches says
it is low risk for subsidence - the post code is NN8 5ZB if anyone
can
tell
me any more. The lady at esure mentioned something about 10% but
not sure
what that means.

Probably they had one house there with a slight problem and knocked
out the
whole neighbourhood.


But Jacob could now be in serious difficulties, because insurance
companies tend to ask if insurance has been previously refused, and if
it has, and this is not disclosed, it could cause any future claims to
be refused. If the refusal is disclosed, it could bang up the price of
the insurance, or even cause it to be refused again.

"GwG" wrote in message
...
But Jacob could now be in serious difficulties, because insurance
companies tend to ask if insurance has been previously refused, and if
it has, and this is not disclosed, it could cause any future claims to
be refused. If the refusal is disclosed, it could bang up the price of
the insurance, or even cause it to be refused again.

Agreed. But provided he gives them full details and mention who it was I
think they'll be understanding. They turn down many drivers as well. A
copy of his subsidence search will help as well.

In message , G&M
writes

"GwG" wrote in message
...
But Jacob could now be in serious difficulties, because insurance
companies tend to ask if insurance has been previously refused, and if
it has, and this is not disclosed, it could cause any future claims to
be refused. If the refusal is disclosed, it could bang up the price of
the insurance, or even cause it to be refused again.

Agreed. But provided he gives them full details and mention who it was I
think they'll be understanding. T

I agree, and the fact that all the others seem to have been happy to
have offered cover indicates that they were probably just being rather
fussy.


--
Chris French, Leeds

"Jacob Rosse" wrote in message t.com...
The house that I am buying (3-bed detached in suburban estate) is coming
near to exchange of contracts and I decided to ring up my existing insurer
(esure) to arrange buildings insurance.

ESure are very touchy about subsidence, in the same way as some car
insurance companies won't touch you if you have a speeding conviction
etc. FWIW I have just purchased an Edwardian house that was partly
underpinned some 40+ years ago, had no trouble getting insurance with
no higher premiums or increased subsidence excess. I just faxed our
current insurance company the relevant parts of the full strucutural
survey confirming no evidence of movement and the fact the
underpinning appeared to be from donkeys years ago and they were as
good as gold. This was also in an area not normally associated with
subsidence.

In the end companies like ESure just want the lowest risk possible.
Give http://www.heath-ins.co.uk a go - they are the cheapest I have
found by far.

In article , GwG
writes


But Jacob could now be in serious difficulties, because insurance
companies tend to ask if insurance has been previously refused, and if
it has, and this is not disclosed, it could cause any future claims to
be refused. If the refusal is disclosed, it could bang up the price of
the insurance, or even cause it to be refused again.


If he is only seeking a quote insurance has not been refused.

J.
--
John Rouse

(Mary Hinge) wrote in message m...
"Jacob Rosse" wrote in message t.com...
The house that I am buying (3-bed detached in suburban estate) is coming
near to exchange of contracts and I decided to ring up my existing insurer
(esure) to arrange buildings insurance.

ESure are very touchy about subsidence, in the same way as some car
insurance companies won't touch you if you have a speeding conviction
etc. FWIW I have just purchased an Edwardian house that was partly
underpinned some 40+ years ago, had no trouble getting insurance with
no higher premiums or increased subsidence excess. I just faxed our
current insurance company the relevant parts of the full strucutural
survey confirming no evidence of movement and the fact the
underpinning appeared to be from donkeys years ago and they were as
good as gold. This was also in an area not normally associated with
subsidence.

In the end companies like ESure just want the lowest risk possible.
Give http://www.heath-ins.co.uk a go - they are the cheapest I have
found by far.

I had a similar problem when I moved my insurance policy to my new
house. We agreed that if I could show that the movement was historical
and not that much then it would be ok. I sent them a copy of the House
Buyers report which didn't mention either and for some strange reasion
they were ok with that. I was expecting some additional excess but
this didn't happen. I'm with Direct Line.
lc.

(Lc) wrote
Mary Hinge wrote
"Jacob Rosse" wrote
The house that I am buying (3-bed detached in suburban estate) is coming
near to exchange of contracts and I decided to ring up my existing
insurer (esure) to arrange buildings insurance.

ESure are very touchy about subsidence, in the same way as some car
insurance companies won't touch you if you have a speeding conviction
etc. FWIW I have just purchased an Edwardian house that was partly
underpinned some 40+ years ago, had no trouble getting insurance with
no higher premiums or increased subsidence excess.

I had a similar problem when I moved my insurance policy to my new
house. We agreed that if I could show that the movement was historical
and not that much then it would be ok. I sent them a copy of the House
Buyers report which didn't mention either and for some strange reasion
they were ok with that.

I backed out of a purchase because my Homebuyers hadn't picked up the
underpinning work, this only came out on the search (and the vendor
hadn't disclosed). I rang the usual insurance suspects and no-one
would touch it.

I walked away ..

Cheers,

Paul.

Jacob Rosse wrote
The house that I am buying (3-bed detached in suburban estate) is coming
near to exchange of contracts and I decided to ring up my existing insurer
(esure) to arrange buildings insurance. They told me they wouldn't cover
that post code full stop because of subsidence. All the other insurers I
have had online quotes from today have not mentioned a problem and the
premiums (around £100-200 annual) have not been much more than my current
house (2-bed semi just up the road). Even Halifax and rbs which are supposed
to be in the same group have had no problems offering cover This of course
sent me into a panic and may mean I need a full survey done. Could this be
down to esure cherry picking and refusing based on some minor land slide
claim they have had in the past or should I be seriously worried?

Also the homebuyer professional book that come back with the searches says
it is low risk for subsidence - the post code is NN8 5ZB if anyone can tell
me any more. The lady at esure mentioned something about 10% but not sure
what that means.

Jacob - if you go to www.homecheck.co.uk you can enter the postcode of a
property and it will report on various issues such as flood risk, radon,
subsidence etc etc. I entered your postcode at Wellingborough and this was the
report on subsidence, supplied by the British Geological Society:

"There is a low risk of foundation damage to domestic properties from natural
subsidence hazards within the postcode NN8 5ZB.

This assessment takes no account of the type of housing, or of coal or other
forms of mining, or the effects of localised foundation damage from trees or
other vegetation, or from other man-made hazards such as excavations or leaking
drains."

In this sense, they rate "low risk" as one up from "no risk". The second
paragraph means this report is based only on the known soil type, which I think
in this area Lower Lias blue clay. This is rather silly IMO - millions of
houses on clay soils have suffered no subsidence whatsoever - the problem is
very localised - caused mainly by vegetation. And if it's a fairly modern house
(1976 or later) the foundation design will have taken account of the soil type
and any big trees close by.

As someone said, esure are being over-touchy about this.

HTH
Peter

In article , Zymurgy
writes

I backed out of a purchase because my Homebuyers hadn't picked up the
underpinning work, this only came out on the search (and the vendor
hadn't disclosed). I rang the usual insurance suspects and no-one
would touch it.

I walked away ..

If you want the house, its worth arguing that an underpinned house is
inherently less liable to subsidence than a non-underpinned one. Many
insurers will change their mind in the face of logic, its the people at
the call centres who aren't allowed to deviate from their scripts.

J.
--
John Rouse

"John Rouse" wrote in message
...
But Jacob could now be in serious difficulties, because insurance
companies tend to ask if insurance has been previously refused, and if
it has, and this is not disclosed, it could cause any future claims to
be refused. If the refusal is disclosed, it could bang up the price of
the insurance, or even cause it to be refused again.


If he is only seeking a quote insurance has not been refused.

Are you ABSOLUTELY sure this is the case ? It could help a lot of worried
people if it is true.

Any lawyers out there ? (Not likely I know - too afraid of sueing
themselves when they bash their own finger with a hammer :-)