Home Insurance through mortgage broker...

[H1ghw4y61Revisited]

Just looking for some advice. I'm a FTB and have used a mortgage broker for all mortgage stuff, and have previously arranged for income protection with the same guy. When I was getting all the mortgage papers sorted out he suggested he do all my insurances at the same time, so critical illness/life and home insurance. This is apparently where brokers make their money. The home insurance came out at around £470 a year, which he explained was because I didn't have any no claims discounts built up yet, it was a lot more than I expected but his explaination seemed sensible enough, and it included emergency call out services and lock replacement which was an added premium. I had a little look today on a comparison website and had about 30 quotes, some including the same emergency call out thing and locks as standard, and all offering legal cover (which I don't really need) with the highest quote coming out at £135.00. Am I missing something, or should I just politely decline the home insurance offered by the broker?

What size of property are you buying? The mortgage brokers quote seems quite high if you're insuring a one/two bed flat. I'd be inclined to go back to the broker and say "it seems high, why's that?" And see what he says.

The extra cover he's added will be putting it up quite a bit off the top of my head I think legal is almost 30 a year, home emergency is quite expensive. there's no point paying for cover you don't need. I would look for a defaqto 5 star rated policy with a reputable provider

A whole of market mortgage broker may only have access to a limited panel of home insurers. Just decline the insurance and say you will sort yourself out.

The emergency cover thing is £45 and the locks were £14 extra. The brokers policy didn't include the legal cover as I definitely wouldn't need that. It's a small 3 bedroom semi detached house with garage. I just wasn't sure if there was a benefit to getting insurance with the broker that I may have been overlooking 😬

Only benefit is for him with commission! Only other thing is they may have arranged to start the policy for you but that's easy enough for you to do with a phone call when you exchange

I've known brokers and others who say they look at the market using a panel of the best providers.

By chance, their panel only includes providers that pay commission.

Funny that...

Do your own comparison, and then ring the insurer to advise that you are yet to buy the place. On exchange day, you call to start the policy once you have exchange. It is as easy as that.

I'm happy enough with his quotes for the other stuff, so hopefully he won't miss the commission on the home insurance too much 😬