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Refused House Insurance - Flood Insurance - Subsidence Insurance
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The Web has changed the way that Home Insurance is purchased. The days of ringing or visiting your high street broker or having a man from the Pru’ calling to arrange your various Insurance policies are, a thing of the past. For quite a few years now, the Web has been the preferred way for people looking for a quick and convenient way to buy insurance. However, despite access to the Web not everyone has the good fortune to be able to buy their insurance online. Countless people are currently refused cover online because their circumstances or previous Insurance history suggest that they have a greater than average chance of making a claim. Such applicants are known in the insurance industry as "non-standard risks". For these people, there has been little choice other than to contact a broker that specialises in non-standard insurance. However, we at Crown Insurance have made insurance affordable and accessible to everyone. For some time now we've been providing Non Standard Insurance affordable and accessible to everyone regardless of their situation. There is as always the "impossible" but we enjoy a challenge! Currently no company in the UK offers an online quote and buy service which is available to everyone, irrespective of their circumstances. To a large extent this is because the online systems required to properly assess unusual or unique circumstances and to create a guaranteed price are just far too complex and to date no company has been prepared to invest in developing them because of the following reasons.: People living in flood zones or in a house which has previously flooded, people working abroad with a UK Home properties which have subsidence or have been previously underpinned, listed buildings, buildings constructed in a non-standard way or properties being renovated, people with unusual occupations or who are unemployed, people with criminal convictions, ex prisoners, students, people with previous Insurance difficulties, landlords, unoccupied properties, people in shared properties, House Insurance Renewal Declined!- the list is literally endless!! So the message is clear, if it's an unusual or for unique reasons then its likely you will not able to buy High Risk House Insurance online. |
Case Studies from Ombudsman
Voided House Insurance
Deliberate Non-Disclosure of Insurance
Mr A applied for household insurance. After receiving his completed questionnaire, the firm agreed to put the Insurance policy into effect from 28 June 2002. They also sent him a statement of fact, setting out the information he had given. In response to a question asking whether he had any "non-motoring convictions" he had replied "none".
The following day, Mr A contacted the firm to say that his house had been burgled. However, the firm was unable to get any response when it tried to arrange for its investigator to visit him at home. It heard nothing more until January 2003, when it was informed that Mr A was in jail.
In the course of the firm’s subsequent investigations, it discovered that – at the time Mr A took out his policy – he had a criminal record for possession of drugs and resisting arrest. After making the burglary claim, Mr A had again been found in possession of drugs and was fined for resisting arrest. Finally, three months after the burglary, he was remanded in custody on a murder charge.
The firm told Mr A that it would not have insured him if it had been aware of his criminal record. It said it would avoid his policy and refund the premium. Mr A complained to the firm, saying he had not been asked about his criminal record. When the firm rejected his complaint he came to us .His complaint was rejected
Unfortunately the firm was unable to produce the questionnaire that Mr A had completed when he applied for the insurance. It had only kept a copy of the statement of facts. This established that the firm was likely to have asked Mr A whether he had any non-motoring convictions.
Mr A admitted that he had kept a copy of the application form. However, he would not let us see it.
We concluded that although the firm was remiss in not keeping all the original paperwork, it had still been entitled to decide that Mr A had not answered its questions accurately, and to void his policy for deliberate non-disclosure.
Deliberate Non-Disclosure of Insurance
Mr M’s home was broken into in October 2002. The burglars had kicked in a panel in his back door and stolen many of his possessions. After accepting his claim for the stolen contents, the firm arranged for one of its approved contractors to replace the back door, even though the council owned the property and was responsible for repairing the damage.
Early the following year, shortly before Mr M’s policy was due to expire, the firm sent him a renewal questionnaire. This asked for details of his current security arrangements. Mr M completed the form, confirming that his external doors had "a mortise deadlock and security bolts or a key-operated locking system".
The firm renewed the policy, but within a month Mr M’s property was broken into a second time. Again, the thieves had kicked in the rear door panel. When the firm discovered that the back door did not, in fact, have security bolts or a key-operated locking system, it refused to meet Mr M’s claim. After complaining unsuccessfully to the firm, Mr M came to us.
Complaint upheld
We accepted Mr M’s explanation that he had assumed the firm’s contractors had installed a door that met the firm’s own security requirements. It was careless of him not to have double-checked this. However, given that his other answers were accurate, we were satisfied that he had not deliberately or recklessly supplied an incorrect answer.
We also took two further factors into account. First, even if Mr M had realised that he needed to fit bolts, we did not believe they would have impeded the burglary. This was because the burglars had entered the house by kicking in the door panel. Second, even if Mr M had answered the question correctly, the firm would still have allowed him a reasonable period of time in which to change the locks. The burglary occurred within this timescale.
We upheld the claim. We did not think Mr M’s failure to comply with the security condition was connected with the loss and we pointed out to the firm that it was good insurance practice to meet claim. However, Next renewal, Declined!!
