Re: my suspect loft conversion:
Maybe I am being too cautious but I need to know if my surveyor did an accurate job by not mentioning any probs with the conversion. We did not get indemnity insurance when we purchased.
Can I get indemnity insurance now, then pay a structural engineer to come round and have a look, then claim on the insurance if it needs updating?
I reckon these sorts of insurance can only be taken out during purchase, but it's worth asking the question.
Regards
Earl
There may not be any structural problems with the conversion (apparent within the remit of a survey) so your surveyor might not be at fault (within the usual get-out clauses most surveyors put in their surveys).
No, you need to get the surveyor to confirm there is nothing wrong with the conversion then get the insurer to insure against the risk of legal action. The insurance covers the risk of legal action, not the risk of the thing collapsing.
Owain
Did you have a full structural survey? If not then you don't have much case against the surveyor.
That would be a fraud on the insurer so no you cannot. A contract of insurance is regarded in legal terms as "of the utmost good faith" so you have to disclose any information to the insurer that might affect the premium.
You might well have a case against the seller. Even if they don't have much money they may have sufficient equity in their present house. No a particularly nice thing to do to someone but it may be justified if they have deliberately mislead you.
Peter Crosland
As far as I know - the indemnity insurance only covers the chance the Council requires you to make good the work. It doesn't cover the situation where the work isn't up to standard and the council isn't involved. Also there may be clauses stating that you are not allowed to tell anyone about the existence of the insurance, except for people who are required to know because they are purchasing the property covered by the insurance.
One final thing, you are not allowed to contact the council with regard to the works which are possibly unauthorised etc without first contacting the insurer to get their permission. I cannot remember whether it even stops you from contacting the council with regard to other works not covered by the insurance (ie. new works you're planning). For some reason that's in my mind - maybe it was something I wondered - whether getting an inspector in to look at new work, but seeing the insured work - would that void the insurance? Thinking about it now - I think it only covered speaking to the council about the insured works.
Basically, unless the council force you to do the work, you're unlikely to be able to make a claim, and the council cannot find out about it from yourself... can you now see why the premiums are so low?
To quote my solicitor "I have never actually heard of one of these policies being claimed upon". Again - see why the premiums are low?
D
Indeed, thanks for the info.
Earl
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