Underpinned house insurance

What is underpinned house insurance?

Underpinned house insurance is a specialist type of insurance. It’s for houses that have been affected by subsidence or underpinned. 

If your home’s subsided or been underpinned, then it’s likely that you’ll struggle to find a standard home insurance policy. You may need underpinned house insurance. 

Why are houses underpinned?

Houses are underpinned to strengthen the foundations and make them more secure.

Most houses are underpinned due to subsidence, which is when the ground underneath a house is moving or sinking. The factors that affect the risk of subsidence include:

The signs of subsidence can include:

But sometimes houses are underpinned if they’re having extra floors built, and it’s not linked to subsidence at all.

Why do I need specialist underpinning insurance?

Underpinning insurance is provided by several insurers that specialise in covering underpinned homes. 

Underpinned properties are seen as high risk by insurers. If a home’s been underpinned, then it usually means your house has a history of subsidence damage. This suggests structural weakness and imperfect foundations. This can cost a significant amount of money to repair and there’s no guarantee that further work won’t be needed. That’s why you’re likely to need specialist underpinning insurance.

If your home’s at risk from subsidence but hasn’t been damaged, you can compare subsidence home insurance here.

Can home insurance cover subsidence?

How to get insurance for an underpinned house

If you’re looking for insurance for an underpinned house, you’ll be asked lots of questions about your property.

When you apply for underpinned house insurance, insurers will need to understand why the home was underpinned.

Underpinned house insurers will likely ask:

There’s a chance that insurers may wish to survey your home, too, so they can check the work.

What affects the price of insurance for my underpinned house?

Hopefully the underpinned house insurance provider you speak to is able to offer you insurance. They’ll base the price of your policy on your answers to the questions above.

It’s crucial to be honest in your answers. If you’re not honest about the condition of your property, your underpinned house insurance provider may not pay out when you need to claim.

If your home was underpinned a long time ago, this may have less of an impact on the cost of your insurance than if it was done recently. That’s because if, over decades, there’s been no further movement, it’s highly likely that underpinning solved the problem. If that’s the case, you’re less risky to insurers.

How much is the excess on an underpinned house insurance policy?

If you do find underpinning insurance, you’ll find that some insurers set a much higher excess amount for subsidence claims.

Should you avoid buying a previously underpinned property (PUP)?

It’s your call. If you are interested in buying a PUP, then it’s a good idea to pay for a full structural survey. That should contain some advice about the property’s current state and whether it’s likely to throw up more problems in the future.

Getting a mortgage shouldn’t be a problem. If the structural survey report shows that the underpinning work has been carried out to a high standard, then you should be ok. It’s much more difficult to get a mortgage for a house that has subsidence but hasn’t yet been underpinned.

The important thing to remember is that you might find it harder to sell when it’s time to move on, so bear this in mind when you’re negotiating.

What if you can’t find underpinning insurance for your home?

You should be able to find underpinned house insurance as there are several providers that offer it.

But, if you struggle to find underpinning insurance, talk to a standard home insurance provider. You might be able to arrange cover with subsidence excluded. 

Remember that if you do this, underpinned house insurance wouldn’t be included. This means you’d be unable to claim for any subsidence damage, but you’d still get all the other protection offered by a home insurance policy.

Here’s how to find the right insurance for your home.