Home insurance for house with high rebuild cost

[ByProudLilacSwan]

Recently moved to a bigger house and shocked by how much more expensive the buildings insurance is than it was for the old house.

The policy for the old house provided cover up to £1m (standard buildings insurance policy with Sheila’s Wheels).

Our surveyor confirmed that the rebuild value for the new house would be around £1.6m (detached, 5 bed period property in a conservation area in London - so would have to be rebuilt with specific materials, specialist builders etc so would cost more than usual).

Due to the high rebuild value, I’ve had to use a broker to get quotes as comparison websites only offer cover up to £1m.

Annual premium for the old house was around £250. For the new house, we’ve just been quoted £3,500 per year. This is just for the building insurance (contents is extra).

Looking to hear from anyone with a similar property to understand if what I’ve been quoted is crazy or just market standard for this type of property. It’s also in an area which has high risk of subsidence (although that’s the case for a lot of London due to the clay soil).

Have you tried Hiscox? They'd be my first port of call.
https://www.hiscox.co.uk/home-insurance/buildings-insurance

Doesn't surprise me. We have a lot of trouble finding anyone at all to insure our house (large, stone built, unusual layout). IIRC it's been over £3000 for 3 years and we're not in a subsidence/flood plain etc. area.
We are with NFU at the moment. They send an assessor to take a look around before quoting for insurance. If you find a cheaper deal PLEASE let me know!

No advice, just bucket loads of sympathy. That sounds horrendous. Mine is £425 a year and I think that's really expensive, especially as I've not claimed in 10 years.

@ByProudLilacSwan You have my sympathy. It’s inevitable rebuild costs are high in London. Although you are detached so that avoids work to adjoining properties, the materials to be used will be mega expensive. Plus rebuild includes clearing the site and professional costs. What price per m3 are they saying?

Our insurance premium this year was very high too. Our contents even worse. We have a burglar alarm, window locks, exterior lights and safes. Our total insurance quote from our existing company was £10,000.

Sorry not to be helpful right now but I’ve forgotten who we insured with. It’s eye watering though. Our big issue is valuables and we are now not insuring certain items in that category. I’m going around clutching my pearls! Literally!

Is that around £10,000 per m3? That’s for a 150m3 rebuild. Is that about the size of your house? Also we use a broker to shop around who specialised in higher value properties.

We are with NFU. We pay just less than half that for half the rebuild cost so sounds about right.

Thank you so much for your replies. It’s a minefield and sometimes just helpful to hear what the situation is like for others to calibrate.

As I’ve read in similar posts, I think buildings insurance premiums have skyrocketed this year as the insurance industry has had a pretty unprofitable couple of years with lots of claims and payouts plus the cost of building/ materials has exploded too.

Not sure what our house is in m3 but it’s 295m2 over three floors with high ceilings and lots of architectural features inside and out. Our surveyor calculated the rebuild cost, which was then reviewed and agreed by a further surveyor instructed by our current insurer.

Broker has tried Hiscox and other companies mentioned here but they’re coming in higher than current insurer (Aviva). On the positive side, the policy with Aviva is really comprehensive which gives peace of mind if something does go wrong.

Here’s hoping things calm down a little in the buildings insurance market as I can’t face another hike next year. On the plus side my broker said 2022 was a really bad year which is why consumers are seeing big jump in premiums this year but that 2023 was apparently somewhat better so the hikes may not be as steep next year’s renewal. Here’s hoping for all our sakes!

We have unlimited rebuild on ours, paid £229 for the year but not London

@mitogoshi Is that for a period house? That’s very cheap. It’s what my DM pays for her semi bungalow! Once you get into higher rooms, specially made windows, expensive slate or tiled roofs, period bricks or stone costs skyrocket. Also a lot of people under insure. They have no idea what rebuild costs are. Most insurance companies want a proper evaluation of costs or a policy won’t be honoured.