Insurance renewal reality check

[tobydog]

With County Insurance it turns out that the 3 year chimney check is compulsory. I only need to confirm in writing that I have had it checked by a builder and all is okay. The principle of "Utmost Good Faith" lives on for some. I found out about this at work at 9am. Annoying, I had a builder at the house at 8am this morning quoting for garden steps and a retaining wall. Doh!!! Although County can't formally quote until I confirm the chimney, they did verbally advise a figure of around £850. As mentioned earlier, NFU now wants £1,064.

County will also require the electrics certified. NFU were going to need this for next year anyway so I've booked this is in for 4th March. Should cost around £150.

I forgot that I had asked County for two quotes based on a rebuild cost of £350,000 and £450,000. I'll have to get back to them. Maybe a silly question but, out of interest, does the photo below look like a £350,000 or £450,000 total rebuild cost house?

 

[elizabeth]

Hello Tobydog,
We have just had our electrics done and certified. Ours is a cob and thatch. We had to have cables insulated in the loft and the fuse box changed to a metal casing. Also required was a ARC fault detector for the lighting in the loft. We did a lot of work where we could to mitigate the expense and left the knowledgeable work to the electrician.

He had just completed the training for the new regulations which came out in January following the terrible Grendfell Tower tradegy.
I believe the insurance companies are bringing this into their policies. our electrics didn’t meet the requirements from 10 years ago.

 

[tobydog]

Hi Elizabeth. Thanks for the info. I know there was some talk on here recently about some electricians trying to apply regulations that don't actually exist. For example, I don't believe there is a requirement to have cables in the loft made vermin proof. Putting them is mental casing might be prudent but it's not compulsory. We have two consumer units, one for the old part and one for the new. Both our standard plastic and the one in the new part was only fitted three years ago when we fitted a new 10.8kw electric shower. The old fuse box was removed. If new regulations have been applied since then we could be stuffed. We have lighting in the loft but it's in one of those heavy duty exterior looking things. If there is a requirement to have the cabling in the loft protected then we will need a rewire. It currently goes diagonally so not enough wire to run down the woodwork. Fingers crossed.

 

[Flyfisher]

I don’t think the wiring regulations are applied retrospectively, though I can imagine unscrupulous electricians using it as an excuse for more work than is legally necessary.

For example, it was only a few years ago that the requirement for metal consumer units was introduced yet there is no requirement for existing plastic ones to be replaced. I’d guess that 90%+ of houses have plastic consumer units that don’t meet the latest wiring regs.

The wiring regs seems to change more frequently these days than in times gone by. I was talking to an electrician this week who is currently working his way through the changes of the lastest regs (Jan 2019 I understand) and he told me that cable clips now have to be metal so that cable don’t fall away during a fire. So that’ll be 100% of existing installations that don’t meet the latest regs then!

 

[88v8]

....he told me that cable clips now have to be metal so that cable don’t fall away during a fire. So that’ll be 100% of existing installations that don’t meet the latest regs then!

Most of mine is in buckle clips (brass) and I have a good stock of new ones that I bought on eBay. Not for any safety reasons, just because they look more 'period'.
I paid a lot less than this, on the other hand as they say 'find another'.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/electrical-electro-plated-tin-brass-buckle-clips-60mm-long-x-14/202601106422?hash=item2f2bf78bf6:g:sdEAAOSwirFa-aIW:rk:1f:0

Period cable clips, a new must-have.

Ivor

 

[Flyfisher]

OK, 99.9% then :wink:

Actually, now you mentioned that type of cable clip, we have lots of those in our outbuildings. Not sure what vintage they are but the actually wiring is multi-cored red/black plastic so 60s perhaps? Funnily enough, the consumer units in our outbuildings are also metal, albeit very rusty now. As for ‘more period’ when it comes to electrical installations, I’d guess that conduit was probably used well before cable clips. We still have quite a lot of conduit even though the original rubber wiring is long gone and it seems more appropriate than cables clipped to beams, of which we also have plenty . Perhaps because there is clearly some skill, nay art, involved in a neat conduit installation compared to just clipping cables to the nearest surface? More likely just what one is used to I suppose.

 

[Socksitis]

Whatever the cost of insurance, I would want it to cover what was important. The rebuild cost and if necessary the contents. On the OP, the rebuild cost was too low in my very humble opinion.
Go back to the basics, find out the realistic rebuild costs for a listed building, so timber frame, cut stone, thatch, lime or whatever, not cheap. Value the contents, then go to various insurers with realistic figures.
A

 

[tobydog]

I'm currently working with NFU and County Insurance Brokers and yes, I have asked them to work on an increased rebuild figure of £450,000 rather than £350,000. NFU can get a rebuild survey arranged with loss adjusters Cunningham Lindsay but it costs £500. NFU have some kind of arrangement whereby they will pay for half of this cost if the survey results in a declaration of higher rebuild cost and additional premium. I don't know the full details but I'll check them out. Increasing the rebuild cost with Country resulted in a £200 increase in the premium. I'm yet to hear back from NFU. Joy :roll: !!

 

[masochists-r-us]

We went with Axa Extra this year. £1,000,000 rebuilding costs, £75,000 contents both of which are well over what we need, but are standard and paid £456 with a total excess of £300. We were amazed having paid around £1000 with Ecclesiastical for a good many years. Our premium started at £700 and went up every year despite never having claimed for anything so all I could do to keep it under £1000 was to keep degrading the cover. When we bought our house more than 10 years ago, there were very few insurers prepared to take on Listed Buildings at all, but there seem to be many more nowadays. We went via Autonet an on line insurance broker. I should point out that we're not thatched, but do have woodburners.

 

[a twig]

£325, 4 bed with wood burner and open fire.

£700,000 rebuild costs and £40,000 contents, plus specific cover for jewellery, laptops etc

£250 excess

 

[tobydog]

Just a quick update.

As you will recall from my first posting, I set the rebuild cost for our cottage at £350,000 for which NFU wanted £1,064. It's Grade II listed, timber framed, thatched, wood burner, etc. We ticked all the bad boxes.

I asked NFU to quote for a rebuild cost of £450,000 which they wouldn't do without a proper survey. NFU went 50/50 on the survey fee so long as I agreed to increase the value in line with the survey and pay the resulting additional premium. Turns out I was a little bit light on the original value because it came in at £430,000. The response from NFU was - "That will be another £195 please sir".

So, I can now sleep easy knowing that we have the correct value. The £195 was roughly what 50% of the survey fee represented for NFU, but the increase in premium will be annual going forward. I suppose I can look at it that we were lucky got away with being underinsured with no claims for several years and paying less premium.

As it happens, the rebuild cost is pretty much in line with its market value but I realise there is no direct correlation. Can't wait to see what next years renewal premium will be :roll: .

 

[88v8]

Which report, haven't read yet, but NFU came out tops for claims handling.

Ivor

 

[Flyfisher]

Reassuring to know NFU has a good reputation when it comes to claims, but Ivor is certainly right about thatch being a rich man's roof - I've recently renewed with NFU for almost exactly the same amount but for three times the rebuild figure - £1272 for £1.32m, which is about half market value. And the premium went down slightly this year. :shock:

 

[shobo]

I pay £500 for a property that sounds similar, except mine is stone. I send my insurer the EICR, which cost very little to get. I don't burn fossil fuels in any way.