Home insurance - astronomical quotes!

[ThisOdyssey]

Hi - we’re in the process of buying a house and as we get closer to exchange I’ve started checking out home insurance and I’ve been shocked by the prices we’ve been quoted. So far we’ve had quotes ranging from £1700 pa to £2400. This is for building and contents on a 5 bedroom Georgian terrace in Somerset. Our insurance on a 3 bedroom detached 1930s house in Kent was less than £600, so the quotes have been a bit if a shock! I wondered what others are paying for similar properties and whether this is reasonable or unusually high. Also any tips on good insurers for old properties (1830) in a conservation area would me much appreciated. 🙂

It could be down to the postcode, if your area has a high rate of claims/burglaries/subsidence etc, it will impact all properties in the area. The age of the property will have an impact as well as the rebuild size. Have you had any insurance claims of any kind in the last 5 years?

Is it the flood risk? You may need a specialist insurer

It's the rebuild costs for period properties, they've gone absolutely insane. In Spring 2023 I got quotes to insure a 4 bed stone cottage we were thinking of buying, it had an asking price of £465k, the insurance company were quoting a ONE POINT ONE MILLION POUND rebuild cost. The quote back then was 1.3k PA, but she also made it clear 'we're not done yet, we need a load more details off you and it's likely it will go up significantly because I only have the basics off you.'

(we didn't buy the house)

Because I was exceptionally pissed off, I started playing around with quotes, and got a quote for the rental we were living in (both buildings and contents) which was a 12 year old brick built house, with a value of around 600k imo (it was huge - 2500 sq ft), the insurance companies were quoting a rebuild cost of 386k for THAT house and I can't remember what their quote was, but it wasn't in the slightest bit disturbing.

Anything period is basically through the roof because the cost of materials: wood (and stone) has shot through the roof since covid/brexit. As have labourer costs.

Go to the Facebook group: Your old house UK - repair and conservation - where this is a frequent topic of discussion, and find an insurer through whomever has been recommended there. You'll probably find a fair few replies 'I'm a broker, message me' and you can try it that way too.

Good luck. It's very expensive to own and maintain a period property these days.

Edit to add: as we hadn't owned a home before we're likely to have to pay more, but last week I got a quote for a 415k grade ii listed 4 bed Victorian building and it came out at about 350 PA (at the cheaper end), I think the rebuild they were quoting for that was around 390k.

There can be 100 years between Georgian and Victorian properties though.

No, its flood risk is ‘negligible’ for sea, river and surface water. Its soil/subsidence risk is also low and it’s not in a high crime area. I think it must be rebuild costs because it’s stone and it’s in a conservation area …

It doesn’t have a high crime rate, and it was rated low on subsidence risk. It’s 1830, so that’s a factor. And part of the terrace is a run of Grade 2 listed houses, including next door, so that could be a factor (not sure how this one escaped being listed but glad it did!). Yes, we had a claim in 2021 but it was only for £500 - though I think just the fact we made a claim sends the premium up a bit.

Yes, I think you’re right - 1830, stone built (700mm walls!) and four stories if you include cellar. I’m a recent member of Your Old House, so I’ll do search for insurance - thanks for the tip. It looks like we’ll probably end up paying an arm and a leg!

I have just renewed our home and buildings insurance. Stone built house. 300 years old, at least. It was £230 if I remember correctly.

Edit: £260 One million rebuild cost.

Wow - that’s amazingly cheap. Can I ask which insurance company you’re using?

Policyexpert

Their Gold offering.

Note that I tend to max out excesses with insurance policies because I know I’m unlikely to claim unless it’s something really big. That may make a difference.

There is the terrace factor too.

It can seem counter-intuitive because we value terraces less, but they are more expensive to replace because of disruption that usually spreads across two or three properties, and because your rebuild affects and is limited by neighbouring houses.

My excess is £200. This will make the price much lower. Also maybe pay as a lump sum although I pay direct debit as cannot afford a lump sum.

My insurance was just under £400, house worth £850k but is a new build. Cheaper to rebuild!

House insurance has gone up
Hugely.

Ours went upto 860 but most quotes were over 1400. It's ridiculous

Ours is a Victorian 5 bed detached btw. Brick built and normal roof so not massively fancy

Just got our renewal and is £1800 for a 4 bed 1920s semi!!
Low crime rate area.
It doubled last year after we had the temerity to make a (small) claim, wish I hadn't bothered!!
This year it's doubled again, we are in process of having a loft conversion, which I notified insurers of, so not sure how easy it would be to shop around and change insurers whilst we have building work going on.

Ive just got our quote through for this year from M+S, its gone up nearly a hundred pounds for nothing. We have to go with them as they cover ebikes as standard and I didnt find any others that did, both inside and outside the house. Separate ebike cover is horrendously expensive

Went from around 390 to 460 or something.

Bog standard 3 bed semi, south coast and like others I have high excesses.

And yet the govt claim the cost of living is improving

🤣😡🤬🧐

Wow, my 1820 stone house just cost me £900 with Admiral. 3 comparison websites said they couldn't find any companies that would insure it!

I've got a three bed Georgian terrace and my insurance, house and contents, is £18 a month. Its not listed but I'm in a conservation area.

Our house insurance was £200ish when we moved in 5 years ago. It was over £1000 this year, partly thanks to bad floods nearby a couple of years ago (even though our specific postcode was fine).