Household Insurance News: When a dream property turns into an insurance nightmare
Sometimes property dreams turn into nightmares when it comes to getting insurance, especially if the property is a bit unusual and doesn’t tick all the boxes. Adrian Flux Insurance Services, one of the leading home insurance brokers in the UK, has set up specialist expertise on hard-to-insure properties within its Household Division to deal with such problems.
"We’ve noticed we are getting more enquiries from people with non-standard homes who are experiencing difficulties getting insurance," says Julie Carter of Flux’s Household Division. "For example, those who have thatched properties, cob walls and timber-framed properties."
The problem is that on the one hand more people are moving into unusual properties, but at the same time insurers prefer to insure ‘standard’ homes. Trends towards ‘green’ construction techniques can throw up new circumstances and build-characteristics insurers are unsure about covering.
Because these properties present such different insurance criteria Flux advises home-owners to ring around different companies and speak to advisors rather than relying on internet quotes or price comparison sites.
At Flux each enquiry is individually assessed and the cover designed to suit the property and the owner’s requirements. In this way any little quirks in the property build, history or location can be taken into account and factored into the equation.
"We relish the challenge of finding insurance for unusual properties. All our staff are experienced underwriters with a high degree of knowledge in this area and don’t like to think a property has them beaten," says Julie Carter.
Cover on these hard to insure properties, such as those with flat roofs, thatched roofs, underpinning, timber frames and subsidence damage, is every bit as good as that on standard housing. Flux also offers access to a 24 hour claims hotline, discount for alarms and security locks and discount for a combined buildings and contents cover policy.
Adrian Flux aims to offer cheaper home insurance and has a range of policies for homes, contents, landlords and buy to let, including specialist schemes for hard to insure properties such as thatched homes, underpinned buildings and those at risk of flooding. For information call the Flux household insurance hotline on 0844 888 1313, email household@adrianflux.co.uk or visit the website, www.adrianflux.co.uk, and click on the relevant button under the ‘Home Insurance’ section.
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