Homeowners who make certain improvements to their property but don’t inform their insurer could be unwittingly invalidating their policy, a financial data expert has warned.
Soaring house prices have meant homeowners are now more likely to refurbish or extend their homes than move onto something bigger or better and this means a rise in home improvements.
But whilst most people are aware that converting a loft, carrying out internal remodelling or building an extension requires a call to the insurer about their plans, there are also smaller changes which need to be flagged up.
Work you must declare
Indeed, financial information business, Defaqto, warned there were jobs which most would not necessarily consider as structural works, which could cause problems if your insurer became aware of them.
This includes installing new fitted kitchens, bathrooms or wardrobes, partitioning rooms or removing walls, converting a garage into a room and making a new en-suite bathroom.
Not declaring these could limit or invalidate your cover because insurers base premiums on the amount it would cost them to rebuild a property if it were destroyed. So, if a homeowner made one of these changes, they may find the total cost of rebuilding their home increases substantially and this would raise the sum insured.
It means, said Defaqto, if homeowners make these changes they must ensure their insurance fully covered the property once the work was completed.
Brian Brown, head of insight at Defato, said: “When you are considering or undertaking building work, talking to your insurer is probably the last thing on your mind but it could be the most important 10 minutes of the whole building project.
“There have been some high-profile cases where insurers have not paid claims because homeowners invalidated their cover by adding extra bedrooms and not telling them.”
Bedroom rating
According to Defaqto’s data, three quarters of home insurance policies are ‘bedroom-rated’ which means their insurance cover and cost is calculated based on the number of bedrooms in a property.
Dividing a bedroom in two, or converting a living space into a bedroom, could therefore push the property into a higher insurance bracket or invalidate the cover.
Defaqto said some insurers will automatically include a very high ‘sum insured’ to protect homeowners against any uplift in rebuild cost.
What’s more, others give policyholders the option to choose the sum insured, a figure which increases each year in line with housebuilding costs.
Brown added: “Every policy is different and so it’s always best to run any planned work by your insurer before you begin.
“When it comes to moving walls or windows, you may also need to get building regulations approval or planning permission, so it is worth checking with your local authority too before you start.”
