Should an Insurance Claim on BTL affect my House Insurance?

Reply to the comment left by "DC " at "07/05/2014 - 21:28":

Interesting to see that so many landlords are still using Alan Boswells. They were our recommended providers until about 5 years ago. Please give our new scheme a chance, you will be amazed at how much you can save. All you have to do is provide the renewal quote and the policy schedule and they guarantee to beat the premium based on the same cover and often they throw in additional cover too.

It really is a 'no brainer'.

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "07/05/2014 - 21:36":

Yes, you (The Money Centre) recommended Alan Boswell to us back in 2009 so thanks for that!
I will give your new scheme a try again next year.

I'm only with Alan Boswell because you recommended them to me because I couldn't use your scheme (not your fault, my ex-tenants). Very grateful, didn't think we'd ever find anyone to cover us.

I have recently had a few claims equaling 10k on one, 4k on one and 8k on another, I have had a new quote done recently in readiness for renewal in June, declaring all the claims and have actually saved 3.5k across our portfolio based on 2012 figures!

When getting home insurance or landlord insurance you should disclose any property claim from any type of policy you have held and indeed any other information that may bear relevance to the insurance you are looking to take out.

The reason a property insurer will ask about claims across any property (regardless of it being your own home or a let property, etc.) is because the claim could be relevant to what you are proposing to insure.

For example... if your own home is 3 doors down from your let property and there was a burglary at the let property then the insurer may think that your own home is also at risk of future burglary due to the history a few doors down.

Always safer to tell the insurer everything. It may cost a bit more in premium but honesty is the best policy! It just isn't worth the risk keeping quiet to save a few pounds and then have an expensive claim rejected further down the line when they find out something has not been disclosed to them.

Reply to the comment left by "Paul Baker" at "07/05/2014 - 18:51":

Hi Paul,
for peace of mind, I would double check what EXACTLY the broker has declared on your behalf, just in case they took the view that your BTL were not relevant to your private residence and just decided to leave them out.
They told you "it has no bearing", but did they actually check that this is also the opinion of the insurance company they are placing the policy with ?

Starting with the most extreme cmparison with most of us, it is axiomatic that the directors and shareholders of public property companies do not declare a claim on the company's insurers when taking out an insurance on their own houses.

The next thought is what about private property companies which may be limited companies or plcs which may have many properties and a few shareholders?

Then there are large and small property owning formal partnerships, formal meaning they have a legal status with HMRC although the properties may be owned in the names of the partners. Say a husband and wife who have formed a partnership on the advice of their accountant perhaps with the properties registered in their joint names not the name of the partnership.

Where is the line drawn?

I suspect among companies there is a mish mash of policies they would adopt in the event of a non disclosurecoming to light in the various backgrounds I have outlined but every company should at least make it clear under what circumstancies an admission of a previos claim should be made. Ideally the Association of British Insurers should make an appropriate rule.

Perhaps Neil has some high level contacts in the insurance industry to whom he would kindly speak or write in this connection.