house insurance please

[jlo]

Hi,
We are in the process of buying a newly refurbed grade 2 property.
Any advice on which insurance companies to try please for quotes.

Thanks in Advance

Jason

 

[Flyfisher]

Quite a few people here use NFU (including myself) so I'd definitely put them on your shortlist. Also check the insurance pages here (click the tab at the top of the page) for specialist insurers that understand period properties.

When first phoning around for listed property insurers I found that most of the 'high street' companies didn't seem to understand that a house could be 450 years old. :lol:

 

[Jellyfire]

Hi jason, I'd also recommend NFU, we're grade II thatched and found them to be much more understanding of period properties than the other companies we tried

 

[tobydog]

We're thatched, timber framed, listed and with NFU. They are good. Some of the 'High Street' insurers wouldn't even quote and others were so expensive they clearly only wanted our business if we were mad enough to pay the high premium. My only gripe about NFU was that although our first years premium was extremely competitive, the next two annual rises outstripped the 5 year bonus scheme we agreed to. Having said that, our premium is still good. If you are thatched, just watch out for the small print question over whether you have a wood burner. I missed it first time around and it ended up adding £200 to the premium.

 

[jlo]

Thanks Guys, will try NFU. I am in the process of moving house from a dorma bungalow to a fully refurbished grade 2 with slate roof, hopefully the insurance shouldn't be too much more!!!

 

[Bayliss]

I used to be with NFU until last April when I found their quote for my home rose about 30% for no reason of claims by me. They are a good quality but you may want to try these Companies 'Simply Thatch' 01787 880338. and 'Thatch Shield' 01462 484424

 

[AMc]

Be very careful that the "market value" of the property (i.e. what you're paying now) may be substantially lower than the "cost of reinstatement" using authentic materials and techniques that comply with your listing.
This is something you should be aware of when comparing quotes and it may be worth asking your surveyor for an opinion on the cost to rebuild at the time of the purchase report.

 

[jlo]

Ours is slate roof, not thatch. Good idea about rebuild cost. The mortgage surveyor put the property value on his report but no rebuild cost. Ours is of tiled roof & stone construction rendering. Think i will ring mortgage company to ask for rebuild cost.

 

[stuart45]

There is an online calculator that you can use, but it is a slightly simpler version than the one used by surveyors. I don't think it allows you to include drainage, fencing, garden walls etc, but it does surprise people just how much a total rebuild can cost when demolition is included.

 

[jlo]

245k is my rebuild cost, just had quote from NFU, grade 2, stone & slate roof = £935, awaiting the underwriters to confirm happy with flood risk as came back high however when you look on the environment agency site it shows its out the flood zone :? :?

 

[Juju]

That sounds a lot? My quote is £200 less than that - I'm just renewing my buildings and contents with la Playa and our listed 350yr old house has rebuild cost of £350k.
Juju

 

[JoceAndChris]

Sounds about right to me!

 

[skier-hughes]

Mines a couple hundred more for a rebuild of about 1.2million! Sounds a tad expensive to me.

 

[El Greyo]

245k is my rebuild cost, just had quote from NFU, grade 2, stone & slate roof = £935

I'd shop around a bit. We have an estimated rebuild cost of £275k and our insurance is around £600pa. And we're thatched. We're with Playle and Russell. No woodburner though.

Good luck.