Our prospective new home

[Tc345]

Hello,

I have been a lurker in the forum for a few months now and have very much enjoyed snooping other peoples houses, reading the linked blogs and generally reading about other's experiences. There is obviously a great community here and a lot of experience and expertise to hand.

My wife and I are nearing (fingers crossed and really hoping this doesn't jinx it) exchange on a house in need of some tlc. After selling our current house 3 time last year (!) and having a purchase fall through in December we had our offer accepted in early January and since then have been negotiating convents and clauses, along with the usual conveyancing faff and some complex back and forth with the mortgage company involving structural surveyors etc. A few exterior pics below:




Now that we are introduced I wondered if I could ask some advice. We are trying to sort buildings insurance and I wondered if I could ask for views if there is a need for a specialist insurer? The house is listed and in a conservation area with some lovely (original I think) details inside, cornicing, a ceiling rose, fireplaces, a staircase etc. My parents also own a listed old farmhouse and are insured with NFU who come highly recommended, does anyone have corroborating experience with them and a period home?

Thanks in advance.

TC

 

[88v8]

Welcome.
Lovely house.
I like the way the current owners have allowed some creepers to integrate the house with the garden.

NFU have a good reputation and I believe some on here use them.
Someone will be along to comment.

For Our GII, I use County
http://www.county-insurance.co.uk/personal/home-2/
but as we've never made a claim, I can't say how good their service is when it really matters, and I hope I will never know.

Ivor

 

[Flyfisher]

Welcome to the forum. That's a lovely looking house. May I ask whereabouts in the country it is?

We're with NFU for our G2* house. My hobby horse with house insurance is determining an accurate rebuilding estimate. Firstly, the very nature of period/listed buildings means that rebuilding costs cannot be easily determined from standard house building calculators and, secondly, some insurers will reduce any claims if they decide you are under-insured. For example, you insure for £100k but rebuilding turns out to be £200k so the insurer says you were 50% under-insured and so only actually pays out £50k - even though they require YOU to determine an accurate rebuild figure. I think this is scandalous, but we've already had that debate here in the past.

When I approached our local NFU branch, I expressed my concerns about this and asked for one of their people to come out to visit the house and give me a rebuilding figure that they would honour, should the worst happen. A very nice chap duly visited and didn't entirely understand my concern because he said that NFU would never apportion a claim in that way. He said that if we insured for a specific figure then that is what they would pay out (as a maximum of course) in the event of a claim. He pointed out that, of course, if the rebuilding costs did exceed the insured value then that would be at our risk, but was explicit that they would pay up to the full amount insured. Furthermore, he gave me the name of someone in their head office who confirmed exactly the same thing. Like 88v8 - and all of us I assume - I hope never to have to claim, but at least I can sleep easy knowing that I'll be able to rebuild something decent to live in for our insured amount even in the case of a total loss.

The other thing about rebuilding costs is that they bear little relation to the market value. Our previous rural Hertfordshire house (non-period, 1950s) rebuild valuation was about 1/3rd its market price whereas our current rural Norfolk listed house rebuild valuation is about twice the market value.

As for claims, my only experience with NFU is when the diamond fell out of my wife's her engagement ring. We had a valuation certificate so were not expecting any problems but were somewhat shocked to be told we were not covered for jewellery (I forget the precise details why, it was about 20 years ago, but something to do with an option we didn't have). When we discussed the matter with our local NFU office and explained that we had quite clearly given them details of everything we wanted covered, they checked the paperwork and agreed there had been a mistake somewhere and that the additional cover we needed had been omitted from our policy. So they offered that optional coverretrospectively if we agreed to pay the small extra amount (I recall it was £17) and they then processed and paid the claim in full. Amid all the stories of insurance companies making claims as difficult as possible, I thought this was pretty good customer care!

Good luck with the exchange!

 

[mims&pip]

Hi and welcome to the forum!

Mmmm, very attractive house

At our last property - a non-listed, Georgian thatched house on the Wilts side of the Wilts/Dorset border - we were insured with Playle Russell Special Risks, who specialise in thatched/listed properties. Our previous owner had been with NFU but we found their quote to be considerably higher than PR and the cover offered virtually the same.

Hope everything now goes according to plan and you come back with the good news that you've exchanged contracts soon!

Mims x

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Hello and Welcome ! Well, that is a truly lovely house you have found! I am not in a position to help with your insurance choices except to say that we were very impressed with NFU when we were looking into insurance for a thatched cottage--I think that it is a case of choosing three and reading ALL the small print very carefully in order to weigh up what you are actually getting from them, and making sure it really suits your requirements--tedious I know but well worth the time spent!

Wishing you every success during the conveyancing! Do keep us all posted.

 

[Zebra]

NfU were, if I remember correctly, pretty much the only insurers interested in offering cover for a 1700s timber frame house undergoing major structural work. I always found them pleasant to deal with. Now that the works are done, I've just gone for the cheapest Internet deal though. ..

 

[livias]

Interesting. NFU told me clearly last autumn that they would not insure us while the major structural work is going on but would be happy to do so afterwards. Perhaps there has been a change of policy at NFU cos they insured me while major works were ongoing at my last place. Or perhaps it is because we are moving out of the house for the duration. For insurance while works are going on I have used Buildstore/Buildcare

 

[mims&pip]

Interesting. NFU told me clearly last autumn that they would not insure us while the major structural work is going on but would be happy to do so afterwards. Perhaps there has been a change of policy at NFU cos they insured me while major works were ongoing at my last place. Or perhaps it is because we are moving out of the house for the duration. For insurance while works are going on I have used Buildstore/Buildcare

Yes, that sounds about right as the PO of our last house did some major structural stuff (new thatched roof and replacement of many rotten structural timbers throughout - at one point you could stand on the ground floor and look through the upper two levels to the sky :wink: ) whilst he was with NFU. That would have been as recently as 2009, before he became seriously ill and was forced to give up/sell.

Playle Russell were happy to insure us whilst we did the remaining structural stuff, but again that might have changed as this was in early 2011.

Mims x

 

[Flyfisher]

Both NFU and Lark were happy to insure our house while works were in progress. Lark used to call every six months or so to ask if the work was finished and the scaffolding was down but I just replied 'no' and it was never a problem. The good thing about NFU was that someone from our local office was happy to visit and so could see the state of the place first hand.

 

[Tc345]

Thanks all for the input and stories (that's most of the reason i enjoy reading the forum so much).

I think we may well approach the NFU and see what happens but our financial adviser has advised that our current insurer is actually pretty good for unusual properties and given that there is not a lot of structural work to be done I think we should be ok. The mortgage company has already stipulated that the house be insured for approx 120% of the actual value so we have no choice there. We'll also make sure we carefully read the Ts and Cs to make sure we have the right cover.

Flyfisher, to answer your question, it's in East Anglia, hence the brick and clunch/flint combo on the outbuildings.

I'll let you know how things go and will no doubt be back to ask questions or share some of the details in the house and outbuildings, there are some bits that you lot may well enjoy .

 

[Tc345]

Hello all,

We decided to go with the NFU in the end as they gave a competitive quote and I like the fact there is a local office. It looks like we'll be exchanging tomorrow to move in a few weeks, keeping everything crossed and hoping I haven't jinxed it.

I have another question for the PP crowd, does anyone have builder recommendations in the Cambridge area? People who will be sympathetic to an old building.

Cheers,

TC

 

[Zebra]

The response most often given to that question, is not to rush into any building works too soon after purchase. After a year or so of living with the house you may decide that certain features which you had thought you couldn't live with aren't so bad after all.
The second response often given is to learn as much as you can yourself about the house, it's construction, and what it needs. We are all here to help and advise and you'll quite probably get better advice on here than you would from a builder.
Also, builders who claim to be good with old buildings can still recommend bad things: tanking, injected dpcs and the like. You have to be your own expert and make the decisions yourself.
Having decided what to do, many choose to DIY because even as an amateur, we care more about our buildings than tradespeople do.
There are things beyond the scope of most people's DIY skills, and I personally have found that younger less experienced tradespeople are happier to do exactly what I want without telling me how it should be, even if the method or product isn't familiar to them.

 

[Tc345]

To reassure you Zebra, we are only wanting to get repairs done! The chimney needs some love, as does the garden wall and the upstairs bathroom floor has no joists according to the previous occupants and our structural engineer :shock: .

I am reluctant to make any changes to the house for exactly the sort of reasons you suggest and because we have no need to. I completely understand the importance of getting a sympathetic builder, hence the question to esteemed PPUKers. I have lived in old farmhouses nearly all my life and am a great fan of the Old House Handbook so have an idea of the sort of things to look out for when discussing work with builders. Plus I have learnt a lot from stalking the forum and linked blogs for the last few months .

Cheers,

TC