Homeowners. Have any of you not renewed buildings insurance cover?

[girlfriend44]

Thinking of giving it a miss this year. No choice really.

Have paid building insurance for years. Nothings ever happened.

I simply can't afford it.
Insurance is such a rip off.
Not going to be too outing but it's gone up one thousand three hundred pounds in a year. No claims in the last five years. In fact never claimed.
Simply cannot afford this, along with everything else.

An increase like that is pure greed.😡
One thousand, three hundred.in a year.
Anyone else not have it?

Think about this. Very very hard.

It seems a waste until it isn’t. My parents went away, their pipes burst and the whole ground floor wooden floors buckled, the rugs (pricey ones) were ruined. They stored artwork in the basement on pallets in case of flooding but the water came down from above. Thousands and thousands of damage. All covered.
I was burgled. I didn’t have much (my TV was black and white)! But they took all my jewelry. Covered.
You would be crazy to not insure your main asset.

That's a ridiculous amount - ours is under £200! A friend of mine sold her house and the new owner didn't insure it - the very first night she owned it there was a fire which caused tens of thousands of pounds worth of damage.

Building materials have gone up massively. That's why it's gone up such a lot.

Honestly, it's worth paying.

Why would it matter what anyone else has done, of course there are people without insurance, what's the purpose of asking?

Do you think the likelihood of you having to make a claim is somehow related to whether random strangers have bought insurance? Your premise doesn't make any aense

You have suggested you've used comparison sites - have you checked a box incorrectly, in error. Worth checking over to make sure.

Alternatively approach a broker - if nothing else they can explain why the incredible increase

Well, yes - there was a time when we went without insurance. We got lucky and didn’t need it. As soon as we could afford it we paid for it again. I’m
sure I’m not the only person in the world who has been on that situation.

Is this a short term situation you’re in, or do you need to consider moving to a house you can afford to run? That is very expensive insurance!

That’s ridiculous - I’m sure if you stick your details into a comparison website you will get much cheaper quotes. If you live in a regular house then no way should it be that kind of price. Mine was around £300 I think when I renewed a few months back.

Do not do this. We have an apartment block beside us and the bin shed for the apartments went on fire one night. We had thousands of Euros worth of damage done to our house and if we had no insurance would have been up shit creek even though none of it was our fault!

My cleaner went without insurance. Which is why she now cleans , evenings and weekends, on top of her full time job. Because she’s still drowning in debt from not being insured over a decade ago, when her house flooded.

The answer is most likely no because it’s a very risky thing to do.
Yes it’s expensive, but in the event that there’s a gas explosion (happened to a colleague a few years ago) insurance will cover you for repairs/rebuild and replacement contents for your house, repairing any damage to neighbours, and housing you while your house is being repaired. If you can’t afford the premium you definitely can’t afford to bear all those expenses.

OP doesn’t seem keen on answering any basic questions so have to assume they’re on the wind-up. What a waste given that it’s obvious no one sane would go without.

Not sure how it’s ‘outing’ to say ‘yes’ I have gone through price comparison websites…. Or ‘we live in a large house which isn’t of standard construction’ or ‘we’re in a flood zone’.

No, we’ve always had Buildings Insurance. Apart from insuring against fire, flood, etc. We couldn’t afford a claim if a tile slid off the roof and hit a visitor/postie on the head. Not likely to happen but it’s a bit like taking out Travel Insurance if you go abroad. You might not have a serious medical incident in the US but if you did how would you pay for the medical fees ?

I remember reading a few year’s ago someone did this and their house did burn down. I can’t remember the details of the article but I remember thinking I would never risk it (also mortgage free).

£1300 ...... I'd like to see the quote to prove that!

My old house insurance, (I’ve moved now and this is 5 years ago), was £3000. D’you want to see a quote to prove that too?

When I looked last month I could get very good buildings and contents cover with legal cover included for £17 a month. I can't change mine yet (for reasons I won't disclose) and it's just renewed at £63 a month.

I know of people who don't have insurance because their property is now prone to flooding and insurers won't take them on even at a high price. They are very, very scared of flood, fire, theft and vandalism and don't like leaving their homes unattended, but are having to live with it.
People on this thread are asking questions because they hope to come up with some way of helping you find insurance that you can afford. Maybe yours has gone up because of flood risk too, in which case you could ask the company if something can be done to reduce your risk. You obviously can't move your home somewhere else, but it might be possible to lobby the council to manage water flow better or even install removable flood gates in your home.
It is worth finding out why the cost is so high, because 1,300 isn't normal.
You could also try interesting MoneySavingExpert or a consumer programme about this problem. You can't be the only one it has happened to.

Depends where you live, and what type of property you have. Maybe OP is in a very high risk area or her home is listed or something.

So you own your home outright but can’t afford to insure it? Something feels off there.

Is that just buildings though or contents as well?

OP you will have to move house to something more affordable, you own your house outright but don’t earn enough to maintain it.

OP probably bought the house years ago so mortgage was paid off a few years ago, circumstances may have changed, OP may have retired and not much income now

She’s going to struggle to sell her house if it has something about it that means it costs in excess of £1300 a year to insure