House Buildings Insurance

[BertiWooster]

Criteria states :

'' You and your family living at the property have not :

- Had insurance refused cancelled or declined

- Had any criminal convictions ''


Does that mean any type of insurance - e.g travel , car , etc ?

Does that include driving convictions - e.g driving without due care , speeding offenses ?

[flip_flop]

Yes, it means any type of insurance.

The conviction question is usually qualified along the lines of "had any criminal convictions other than motoring convictions", but if there is no such qualification then technically (I hate that word) you should disclose all convictions other than those considered 'spent' under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act.

A household insurer will not take motoring convictions into account in the assessment of the premium/acceptance of the insurance - and frankly, even if you had motoring convictions and answerered 'No' to the question, it would be an extremely foolish insurer who tried to void a policy/not pay a claim due to non-disclosure: they'd get their arse spanked by the FSA.

[BertiWooster]

Thanks for that .

What if any of the above occur after you have taken out a buildings policy / during the policy period

Do you have to disclose it to the insurer , before the renewal is up , or at renewal ?

[Buenchico]

You can lawfully answer 'No' in respect of any criminal convictions which are now spent. You can also lawfully answer 'No' in respect of any refusal of insurance where that refusal was solely because of a criminal conviction which is now spent:
http://www.lawonthewe...tion_of_Offenders_Act

Any matter which was dealt with by a fixed penalty (e.g. speeding), rather than by an appearance before a court, does not constitute a 'conviction', so there is no need to declare it. However any matter where a person pleads guilty (or is found guilty) by a court, constitutes a criminal conviction, which must be declared (unless that conviction is now spent, as above).

It's a standard condition of most (and probably all) insurance policies that the insured person must immediately notify the insurer of any change to the validity of the declarations which were made when the policy was taken out.

Chris