Our house is slightly odd in that it was originally part of a foundry and later a haulage company HGV repair garage. 30+ years ago a good friend of ours renovated it and we bought it from him 8years ago.
Downstairs is workshop/studio/creative/car tinkering space. Upstairs is large open plan living room with mezzanine bedroom.
Due to its slightly non standard nature we insure via a local insurance company who have a good understanding of our property and its layout. The only problem being that house and contents is £1600 PA. It doesn’t help that a neighbouring terrace flooded during a 1 in 100 year storm 6 or 7 years ago. We were fine but the floodplan now includes us.
So!
Does anyone insure a similiar type building and can recommend a company?
Or is anyone an insurance broker and want to quote?
Have I found the only subject that isn’t covered by a STW expert? House/building insurance!
Have you tried the NFU Mutual?
M&S? Each year I do the comparison sites and each year I find the almost ‘no questions asked’ unlimited cover option from M&S does our buildings and contents for a reasonable price including a variety of art & jewellery, TVs and laptops etc
M and S have pulled out of the B and C insurance market this year
We have just had to renew ours and ended up going with Aviva, who underwrite M and S, with same cover for substantially less
I live in a house which is listed due to its age and quirks and NFU looms large but they are not cheap or particularly straightforward to deal with (memo to self: on the next renewal I really must put a better effort into finding a competitive alternative)
I should have included that I’m very wary of insurers having had dealings with some truly awful snakes masquerading as insurance loss adjusters from when we had a business.
Im in no doubt I could get cover from a mainstream insurer but if the place burnt down I wouldn’t trust them to not wheedle out of paying due to a technicality/non standard house.
Hence looking for a company that deals in non standard houses/habitation. NFU is possibly a good shout.
Adrian Flux of vehicle insurance fame cover houses now.
One or two other specialist-type vehicle insurers might be able to help
Hope you get sorted
As a specialist insurance broker, we’re able to secure cover for even the most unusual homes. And we do so at a great rate where other companies would struggle to even provide a quote.
NFU Mutual were my first thought. A mate has just started working at Ecclesiastical, who also do household insurance, and presumably should be used to odd old buildings.
thanks for the recommendation. I didn’t know Adrian Flux did house insurance.
Did the online forms last night and spoke to them today for 40minutes to get the house category and details correct.
They are coming in at £1175 with no flood protection (we are next to a river and the nearby area flooded ~8 years ago although we have always been fine).
That’s with rebuild costs of £600k and £40k contents
our existing insurer is with flood risk included, £2m rebuild and £250k contents for £1570
Will try Nfu but I suspect we might be staying with our existing insurer and just accepting we have a non standard expensive to insure house!
We used to use M&S, when they pulled out we went to a local Howden broker. They have a panel of insurers (as would any broker), we found that to be helpful.
They have found us insurance that includes bikes (which has been the subject of another thread).
That’s a big spread on cover RNP, so it’s hardly apples and apples. If you did change insurer there is a high chance that the new underwriter would require a RICS approved re-build cost estimate which would be an added extra to factor in.
We used https://www.independentinsuranceservices.co.uk/ when we needed non-standard insurance, recommended by our mortgage provider. They were much more effective than e.g. Adrian flux and the price wasn't too bad.
That’s a big spread on cover RNP, so it’s hardly apples and apples. If you did change insurer there is a high chance that the new underwriter would require a RICS approved re-build cost estimate which would be an added extra to factor in.
I don’t know where the £2m and £250k values came from with our current insurer - we certainly don’t have anything out of the ordinary contents wise hence why I put a googled value of £600k rebuild and £40k contents for the Adrian Flux quote.
NFU Mutual were my thought too, they're pretty well versed in insuring odd properties. They'll have a local office too, contact them and you'll be able to talk to someone who is local and may know the area. If you let me know where you are I can probably get you a name and number. (In the interests of honesty, I work for them, albeit in a role at head office)