Please could you provide some advice.

[Pleasehelpsoworried]

Please help with advice. We have made a disastrous mistake and I am in absolute despair. Please be kind, no-one can beat myself up as much as I am doing.

We’ve undertaken an extension, planning secured, and started the build. We made the genuine horrendous oversight of not mentioning it to our insurer. We have had so much going on and it just slipped our minds - we financed it via savings/remortgage and so had spoken at length with our lender, and we get our insurance through them so we just forgot. There’s no excuse though - we massively cocked up.

We’re now almost to the end of the work and we received a renewal notice for our home insurance. When I read the renewal documents I was mortified and immediately called the insurance company to explain.

There’s no concern with the build - the builder is a reputable one and is fully insured - we’ve sent his liability cover over to the insurance company. All trades on-site are also fully insured. The house was never empty or unsecured. I am just so stressed - I haven’t been able to sleep or eat for 3 days. I’ve had panic attacks and I feel like we’re going to lose our home. The buildings insurance is obviously a condition of the mortgage so I am worried we will never be able to get buildings insurance again if our current provider says no. I’ve emailed them with the builder’s details and cover note but haven’t heard back yet due to the Christmas period.

We’ve never ever made a claim on buildings insurance in the 20 years of being on the property ladder and last claimed on contents insurance about 16 year ago at a previous address following a burglary, so have never had a claim or insurance refused.

Please could anyone provide any guidance?

I've had 3 extensions in the past and I've never informed my buildings insurance....

@Pleasehelpsoworried I would think it would only have been a potential big problem if anything had gone wrong with your build which left you needing to make a claim against your insurance, and you may have exposed your cover to being nullified by not informing them at the outset?

You're righting that now and your build is almost complete, so take a little Ng deep breath and try to find a way to relax if you can!

Goodness, builds are dreadfully stressful and this late realisation has clearly scared you silly and tipped you over the edge - I don't think you should be losing any sleep over it.

*little Ng is my stupid phone's interpretation of big

I called mine and we had to pay an extra £1200 to insure us! No idea why as it was a small extension on a terraced property but there you go.
How long left on the build? I would just insure with another lender

I really don't see how this is a problem now, OP? Your new insurance will take your extension into account. You don't need to claim on your current one and you've now rectified the situation and informed the insurer anyway. What is the issue?

Thank you so much for taking the time out of your evening to reply.

The stress has come about because the renewal notice suggests we should let them know in advance of any building work starting. I am just scared that our current lender will say no and then we’ll struggle to get something else. I am also concerned about approaching other lenders in case a refusal is pending and then it would invalidate a new policy if we need to claim in the future..

You are right though, we have had so many other stresses going off that maybe this is just the straw that broke the camel’s back..

@Pleasehelpsoworried I don't see that you renewing your policy on your now enlarged house should be a problem? You informed your mortgage lender property - the insurance cover was an honest oversight, and and as long as the build has been carried out according to all other regulations (planning, building regs - council building inspector sign-off) then getting a renewal should not be a problem. You also did everything right ensuring your builder and trades were insured.

We had a build and unfortunately our builder used a plumber who was unprofessional and connected something badly which went pop some time after - our updated cover sorted everything straight away, then their legal team very effectively sought recompense through the plumber's insurance policy and settled everything.

Your premium member ght go up if you've added significant space and value, but I don't see why you would be refused. The policy wording does mean that you risked invalidating your cover during the build, but you're providing all new info for renewed policy.

Please come back to say it's all sorted and you can relax with some bubbles to celebrate the end of the stress and your amazing new space!

Just go on a comparison site and find a lender for the new sized house. Don't mention anything to your old lender! You haven't made a claim so it's not an issue, they don't need to know.

Do not fret about it - as PP have said - it is not as though you need to make a claim right now. Phone your insurers. Explain you didn't realise - please could you update. They may adjust your premium (we had to pay a bit extra whilst doing a massive building job) which then may again be adjusted when finished.

We’ve just completed an extension, completely forgot to tell the insurer, called them towards the end and they updated the policy. That was it.