Thatched roof

[bluecampbell]

Can anyone give me any idea about insurance costs for a thatched property? I've found one which is really lovely but it's thatched and semi-detached (the house next door is thatched as well) and I've been warned that insurance is insanely expensive. Can anyone advise? Many thanks!

We previously had a cottage with a thatched roof but it was not attached to another thatched property.
Just looked and the last time we renewed it back in 2022 it was £463. This was with Admiral, their Premium Platinum level Policy.
You do have to tick quite a few boxes with your insurer in terms of fire protection but we never found the actual insurance costs to be too bad.

NFU is good for thatched properties, so I hear. Their original core market base was rural / farming (probably still is), so maybe try them.

I used to work for an insurance broker that did thatch cover many moons ago, but they have been bought out and taken over several times in the intervening decades, so I wouldn't know if they are any good now.

My elder son’s in laws have a property which is partially thatched. It’s a big house with a value circa 2 million. They were uninsured for a while because they couldn’t find anyone willing to insure them and eventually have paid £12K for this year….

We pay about £1700. Detached, largish but not ginormous.

It's not just insurance. You have to have it rethatched every few years.

There are a lot of thatched cottages in the village my parents live in. Lots of people get very upset about bonfires and sparks...

I drew the line at thatched as you need to keep replacing the roof.

Your insurance options will prob be NFU and Listed Property Owners Club (even if not listed)

The current owners should be able to tell you how much their insurance currently is.

parents used NFU

it was newly thatched when they bought it,
and were told it would be fine for at least 20 years (they only lived there for 5)

Ours is about £600 a year but we have no open fires, it goes up a lot if you have those. We go through a broker. Best to ask who they use and phone for a quote. NFU refused to insure ours but do the neighbours but are far more expensive that what we pay but will vary by property.

There are different types of thatch - ours was previously done in 1980 and we just redid the back so lasted 50 odd years. It was expensive, around £25k for the back and reridge. Front will be done in c 10 years time and that maybe another £10k or so. 3 bed house but a larger roof. Reridging needs to be done every 10 years but that isn't that expensive. And heating bills are lower due to thatch.

I love the look of thatched cottages but I couldn’t cope with the wildlife that might live in it and would be constantly worrying about bonfires and scorching weather let alone the price of replacing and insuring, they do look lovely though, so pretty.

The insurance on ours is over £1000 per year. Go via a specialist broker, NFU quoted £4500 a few years ago. You will also probably to jump through many hoops so be prepared

We do get quite a lot of wildlife with the thatched roof - lots of birds, greenfinch, magpies and robins, a squirrel and around once a year mice (though since we got a Maine Coon cat these have gone) and a few spiders.

Fires don't have much issue with, wouldn't have a bonfire in our garden, we do use a BBQ but watch it closely. We don't have internal fires which helps a lot with risk and insurance costs. Never had an issue with hot weather. There's often quite a lot of thatch in an area so people tend to be considerate and often the fire station is very close, always worth checking that.

There are delays on thatching work so need to get 18 months in advance. It also normally means house is listed and area may well be a conservation area which all require more paperwork but does mean area stays looking nice. It can be slower to get permission for changes and around a month for the standard permissions.

Yes our neighbour said NFU asked for £2200 when ours is £600 and our cottage is bigger than there's though they do have a couple of open fires.

This is one broker www.lloydwhyte.com

My cottage is thatched, 4 bed detached, no neighbours, insure with NFU, currently paying £99/month - it has just gone up 25%, following a 40% increase last year! The trouble is that so few insurers will touch thatch that those who do basically have carte blanch to charge what they like. I have a woodburner (my only source of heating) and that does increase the premium and the top of the chimney flue has to be minimum of 2 metres above the ridgeline.
My thatch is water reed which has a life expectancy of approx 25 years, as opposed to 20 years average for wheat straw and the ridges wear badly and need rethatching every 10 years or so.

There are many other hurdles the insurers require, including hard wired smoke alarms, annual chimney sweeping by a registered sweep (although I have my own chimney brushes I am not allowed to do it myself and receipts have to be provided), no bonfires within 100 yards of the house, full electrical inspection every 5 years, the list goes on...

However, it does have charm, and provides a home for many other living things, beside myself!

I work for the fire service. I'd never buy a thatched property

On a previous property we found insurance was no more expensive than a non-thatched roof, as others have said use a specialist insurance company or the NFU.

Those saying the roof has to be thatched every few years are incorrect, the ridge will need replacing - probably about every 15 years. A good thatched roof should last many years. There are different types of thatch used mainly dependant on where in the country the property is - a long straw thatch may not last as long as a Norfolk reed roof (not always in Norfolk!).

I would say one of the most important things to consider purchasing is get the details of who thatches the roof for the current owners, good thatchers are booked months/years in advance.

Thatches are lovely and cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

I love the look of thatched property’s but wouldn’t ever buy one, due the the fact we would want the same solar panels with battery on our next property, as this system has saved us a lot of money on our current home.

We also insure through Lloyd Whyte - £1100 pa for 4 bed detached grade II listed. Building and contents.

Thanks so much everyone! Lots to think about...

Ours is around £1000 per year for a fairly small 3 bed detached thatched with a wood burner. That was with Thatchcover and was by far the cheapest quote.

Reed thatches can last 50 years. Ours was done in 1970 and we had it done in 2016.
Straw thatches last 25 years at least.
NFU insurance for thatched houses is ridiculously expensive.

Log burners push the price of insurance up for a thatch as they are a fire risk. The log burner’s flu gets much hotter than an open fire.

Yes, we had to jump through hoops to get the height of the chimney above the ridge above 1.2metres too and we have to get the chimney swept twice a year to satisfy the terms of the insurance. We thought about changing the roof to pantiles due to the insurance cost of thatch but it does look lovely.