House Insurance on a new house?

therecklessone

Firstly, can anyone recommend a good insurer for house insurance?

And secondly, how much should I be looking to insure a new house for? Buying a 3 bed townhouse for €310,000 and will probably have no more than €30000 worth of contents. I believe the value I should insure the house for is the cost of rebuilding the house, not the price paid for it. So how much should I be looking to insure the house for?

Thanks.

big man

All insurers are fairly competitive. Go to a broker, they should be able to offer quotes from 8 or 9 companies. The commission is high on houses so they wont charge a fee. Quote depends on the house. Insurers will offer discounts on age of building, your age, burglar alarm, smoke detectors, etc.

Alternatively try Ulster Bank Home Insurance. Their rates are very good!! They're on 1800-528-529.

samo

the average cost is approx €165p square foot to rebuild, i'm 90% sure thats the figure I was quoted by eagle star that they use for working out buidings coevr, for example the average 3 bed semi-d is 1060 sq ft giving you figure of 175K approx to rebuild. Mine is covered for 180K, contents doesnt just cover for your TV/Hifi etc it's also includes some rebuiding costs such as new kitchen and bathroom suitre etc in the event of a major fire or somehting (god forbid!) so contents normally is arounnd 20-30K for average 3 bed house minimum.

last thing is this year axa have started doing a no claims bonus syle insurance if you are claims free so just bear that in mind als also eagle star, axa and hibernian will give you a discount if a car ins policy also with them of around 10-15%. I got a good rate with eagle star this year and they gave me introductory bonus as well as car ins discount!

Also try www.insure.ie if you havent already they do online quotes from all major insurance companies

therecklessone

samo wrote:

Also try www.insure.ie if you havent already they do online quotes from all major insurance companies

Thanks for that link!

With this being a new house, any idea of whether my bank will require a certain level of insurance to be taken out?

House is 985 sq ft, so I'd be looking at €164000 approx using that average cost figure you've provided. Do you think they'd be happy with an amount as low as that for a new house in Co.Dublin @ €310000? Must get onto my mortgage broker about that.

I tried €200000 house and €35000 contents and got a quote of €317 from Eagle Star which I'd be reasonably happy paying.

RainyDay

therecklessone wrote:

House is 985 sq ft, so I'd be looking at €164000 approx using that average cost figure you've provided. Do you think they'd be happy with an amount as low as that for a new house in Co.Dublin @ €310000? Must get onto my mortgage broker about that.

You need to insure for the cost to rebuild the house on the existing site, not the cost of purchasing another house. In simple terms, the cost of the new house includes the cost/value of the site, which of course would still be yours even in case of fire/flood/earthquake. So the buildings insurance need only cover the cost to demolish/rebuild/fit out your replacement house.

therecklessone

RainyDay wrote:

You need to insure for the cost to rebuild the house on the existing site, not the cost of purchasing another house. In simple terms, the cost of the new house includes the cost/value of the site, which of course would still be yours even in case of fire/flood/earthquake. So the buildings insurance need only cover the cost to demolish/rebuild/fit out your replacement house.

Grand.

Excuse the persistence, but I presume the bank will insist on a certain level of insurance (house insurance is reuired for the mortgage to go through) to cover their investment. Is that based on the required valuation?

RainyDay

It is so long since I did this that I can't recall exactly what the bank wanted, but if they do expect you to insure for the valuation costs, they are missing the important point that the valuation includes the site value - which doesn't need to be insured. You'll need to check with the bank to be sure.

therecklessone

RainyDay wrote:

It is so long since I did this that I can't recall exactly what the bank wanted, but if they do expect you to insure for the valuation costs, they are missing the important point that the valuation includes the site value - which doesn't need to be insured. You'll need to check with the bank to be sure.

Thanks, will do. Dealing with the broker at the moment, so I'll get on to him and get an answer.

samo

the other thing to check is that the mortgage company's interest (eg you have mortgage with permanent tsb) is noted on policy. This is really important as your mortgage company will check this out and might try and levy their own insurance (not cheap!) on you. This happened to me my 2nd year of owning house and was a major pain so just check that your name and banks is on policy when you get it.

Also make sure you dont miss any payments on this or life insurance/mortgage protection insurance if paying by DD as same will happen!! No the bank just want to make sure that you have adequate buiding/contents cover, that figure I gave you of €165 p sq ft was correct BTW so you need cover of around 170-180. The insurance company index it each year in line with inflation but when it comes to renewal make sure they dont massibly inflate buidlings cover.

Hibernian did that to me this year, chancing their arm so keep an eye on it in years to come! Good luck with house, hope it all goes well for you!

BTW that figure is good you got for eagle star, am with them and cheaper than my quote and thats with discounts I mentioned!! They are also pretty cheap for paying by direct debit!