Getting buildings insurance cover at exchange

[FeelinSpendy]

Hi, does anyone know if it's standard practice for a buyer to purchase building insurance cover to start at the point of exchange? Our solicitor is advising this but surely the seller has the property covered until completion? And if anything happened between exchange and completion, which policy would be claimed on?

Yes. Highly advised to do this as you are committing to buy the property and there is no accounting for what the current owner may do (or not) from this point onwards.

Every time I've bought I've taken buildings insurance from the moment I've exchanged.

Yes - absolutely standard and very sensible.

Once you've exchanged you are obliged to buy the property at the agreed price. So if it burned down or was washed away by a freak tidal wave, without insurance you would be buying a very expensive pile of rubble with no payout coming your way.

I've got to sort this out too, difficult to choose as it's only buildings initially.

When I was selling I was told to cancel my insurance on completion day.

Thanks for your responses all. Sounds like it's very standard and makes sense based on your answers. I've only bought flats previously so they had a communal building cover.