Been refused insurance cover for your property? You’re not alone..

We at Nonstandardinsurance.ie have noticed a marked increase in those contacting us that have been refused property and home insurance cover. Some of the common reasons we see people been refused insurance cover for their home include:

• An insurer may have revised their acceptance area and have now decided that your property is now outside the area that they want to cover.
• You may have been unlucky enough to have a number of claims within a number of years and your insurer has decided that they no longer want to take the risk of insuring you.
• Your circumstances may have changed and your insurer may not now want to offer you cover (a common example of this would be where someone has started a business from home and their home insurer will now not offer cover).
• When a client (either intentionally or inadvertently) has been deemed by the insurer as not disclosing a material fact and as a result their policy has been cancelled.
• You have found that your insurer has deemed the area you live in as a flood area.
• You or someone you live with has a conviction or past history the insurance company do not like.
• Your home or property has been deemed ‘non standard’.

What can I do if I have been refused home or property insurance?

First of all, it is helpful to find out exactly why your insurer is not offering you cover (this is not often obvious when you receive a letter saying they are not offering cover). Under section 4.39 of the Central Banks consumer protection code, you can ask your insurer to state why in writing that they are not offering cover.

Once you have that information, you can start contacting insurers for an alternative. But beware, most Irish based insurers are still quite conservative with their risk acceptance. We at Nonstandard insurance specialise in providing home and property insurance for those that are having difficulty in obtaining it elsewhere. We deal with specialist insurers who will quote in the majority of cases. The below are some tips on how you can make your home more insurable.

Is there anything I can do to make my property more insurable?

We have found that we can obtain terms in the vast majority of cases. Rarely cover will not be offered and that may not be in your control (if your house has had a previous flood for example, you may be able to obtain cover but excluding flood cover), but there are some areas that may help you obtain cover if you have previously been refused:

• If you have been declined for being in a flood or subsidence area,do some research (www.floods.ie can be helpful for this) and see if your house is in fact in a flood or subsidence area (sometimes insurers flood area’s are too broad and you can argue that your house is in fact not a flood risk). Even if your home is in a flood area, they’re may be factors that will prevent your home from flooding (if your home is on higher ground for example), so this should be all noted to your existing or new insurer.
• If your policy has been cancelled due to a non disclosure, write a note as to the circumstance of this. Was it inadvertent and an honest mistake that some info was not disclosed? If so, note this to the company. Insurance companies have a complaints procedure which should be followed.
• If your circumstances has changed (you’ve began working from home for example), contact the company early about this. Explain how this will not increase their risk of covering you if this is the  case. They may try harder to cover you if you volunteer the information, rather than them finding out about it afterwards.

We are specialists in helping those that have been refused property cover and
in the majority of cases we can obtain terms. Contact the experts on 0818919699 for a quotation today or visit our property insurance page for further details or to complete a submission form.