BICS survey

[Dave Plowman (News)]

The property is insured for the rebuild costs. Not the market value. Depending on the part of the country, this could be higher or lower.

[Martin Bonner]

Yes, but in others (like West Suffolk) it is quite low *AND* assuming the house is listed (which is likely for a thatched cottage), then the rebuild cost will be eye-wateringly high (much more than the value of the resulting property).

[Dave Plowman (News)]

And the owner could well loose out on a claim. If a building is underinsured, it's likely the insurance company will scale down any pay out accordingly.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Yes. Usually based on a total loss of the building, site clearance and rebuild as was. Although I doubt this would happen in the case of older buildings.

Market value could be very very different. That can also change very quickly - unlike an insurance valuation.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

My own experience gives some insight into silly London prices.

When I bought this pretty average for the area Victorian semi some 40 odd years ago, my BS insisted the building insurance was based on their figures. Well over twice what I paid for the house. That re-build figure has been index linked and updated when I've made any alterations, etc, ever since.

It now stands at about 1/5th of what the house would fetch on the market at this point in time.

[DJC]

That's what I said ? it depends. The cost of a site in C. London is remarkably high but, living in a listed building, I still have cause to worry that although higher that the market value my sum insured may be a little low.

[tony sayer]

I've had to have this done once for divorce purposes by one surveyor then again for re mortgaging some rented properties and the variations were quite marked by around 40,000 on one property so it really is just the opinion of the surveyor concerned.

Of course it's only worth what someone will pay for it but i had a real run in with the building society concerned, and won then over to my way of seeing it;!....