Owning your own home

Home insurance provider is quoting £507 for renewal, up from £273 last year. Other providers seem similar. Am I missing something or is it normal for this to have nearly doubled?

Yeah, mine went from about £280 to £470 for no apparent reason and couldn't find anything cheaper.

It's the world we now live in. I think the insurance companies have realised post Brexit it's a smaller market and they can charge as they see fit

Mine went up ~50% but the usual faff of phoning up and haggling got it down to a nominal increase.

Interesting, will give that a try

Do a quick comparison on one of the sites, 'Hi, I can get identical cover from xxx for £yyy, can you match it'?

Most of the time they'll match it or get within 10%.

Our renewal quote is also up by almost 50% for home insurance.

Anyone used a broker recently?

Yeah we did, they are all much of a muchness though, none near to what we were paying previously

Grim for leaseholders affected

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy84g9822gro

Prob wrong time of year, but anyone want a free raker. I brought it home from my folks and tried to cut the grass with it . Based se20 .
Had not had much use , but has been outside under plastic for a few months .

1 Attachment

Ours doubled, so we shopped around and managed to find cover for half the previous cost.

Comparison sites are your friends. And re-entering details will make you think about what you really want/need to cover and how.

Was meant to offer that raker in the gardening thread if anyone can move :)

I did this with the same outcome. Half the previous cost for the same cover (on paper) with a 4 star Trustpilot reviewed provider, not that it really matters but made ms_com feel more comfortable switching. Annoyingly, when I was going through the online "I don't want to renew" tool with Halifax, it IMMEDIATELY dropped the price to slightly less than I was paying before (still way more than switching), which makes the rise seem even more arbitrary. Profiteering cunts.

Just renewed my house insurance with uinsure and they gave me money off , I am a new home owner . Worth a try with them for anyone seeing increases .

just got my insurance renewal through

last year: £770
this year £1,150

:(

What’s the thoughts on buying houses that are non standard construction? Had an offer accepted on a house but didn’t realise it was non standard. Its putting me off as I know nothing about them.

Need more info. Is it wattle and daub? Lego?
Also your lender might not lend depending on method of construction.

Timber framed was the only info I’ve been given. I’ve asked the estate agent for more info but I’ve got none at the minute. To be it looked like a normal brick/stone house.

It's normally your mortgage company's opinion that is more important!

So if I can get a mortgage I shouldn’t worry?

Buildings insurance might be more expensive, but probably not prohibitive. Timber construction might be non-standard, but it's still pretty normal.

Know any builders? Surveyors? Get the estate agent to arrange another viewing so they can have a poke around and tell you a bit more about its construction and their opinion on it.
Failing that take someone who at least knows what to look for, just did this for a friend of mine, spotted things she wouldn’t have known to look for.
Modern consumer unit with just 2 breakers, boarded flat roof ceilings that hid some artex which was visible in wardrobes as ceiling was higher.
System not combi boiler with a tank and pump, tank was old but new expansion vessel very odd set-up for a flat.
Marley tiles under carpets.
Wall in kitchen was further back than the lounge off it, turns out lounge had been insulated as end gable wall but not the kitchen.

In the end an asbestos survey found it in the artex and the Marley tiles, not a massive issue as 90% of ceilings boarded and fine to ‘leave in place’ but pulled out for a few other reasons.

Wish I had somebody to do this for me the first time i bought.

Anyone knowledgeable on carpets? Never bought a carpet before. Need to the entirety of my flat. Doing it all the same.
Really shouldn't do it until I sell it because bikes come inside, but I'll find a way to sort it and live with it.

Narrowed it down to an offering from two different manufacturers. The sample packs don't seem super thick or particularly plush. Checking reviews online as we speak but don't suppose one of these is miles better than the other quality wise? Similar g'tees and both cleanable.

1 Attachment

Don’t know much about carpet but don’t scrimp on the underlay.

Yep, it's the underlay that gives that kind of luxurious feeling.

On a side note, many moons back I worked in a factory making those carpet sample books. You ended up with multicoloured snot each day.