Frequently Asked Questions

A Reinstatement Cost Assessment (RCA) for building insurance purposes is a professional calculation of the cost to rebuild a property, including, demolition, professional fees and VAT.

This is carried out by a fully qualified and RICS regulated organisation, who will advise on the value that is declared to insurers to ensure claims are paid in full.

Index linking is the mechanism whereby buildings sums insured are increased each renewal to give inflation protection for the building so that providing the starting figure is accurate (obtained from an RCA), the declared value will stay true over the years and be sufficient to rebuild the property in the event of a major incident and claim.

Index-linking is not based on the general rate of inflation, it is calculated based upon the cost of items relating solely to the re-building of property.

The calculation of and setting of index-linking rates is not calculated by the insurance companies partly as it is a specialist area and kept separate and independent. Insurers may however, interpret the data with slight variation. There are several different independent organisations that provide this service, providing insurers with a choice. The most common organisation is the Building Cost Information Service (BCIS) who operate under the umbrella of the RICS and provide their figures to the Association of British Insurers (ABI).

Acts of terrorism are excluded from the buildings policy and as such a separate policy needs to be placed.

Often when people think of terrorism, they think of bombs going off in the street (often a car bomb or suicide bomber) and usually these are targeted at busy locations (such as public transport as with the 2005 attacks in London). However, there are other situations that can occur with residential risks, and it’s worth considering the below examples:

• A tenant in a flat that is rented out who unknown to the homeowner is a suspected terrorist experiments / builds bombs in their own flat.
• An aircraft brought down by terrorists lands on or near the building.
• Residents in the building may be the target of terrorists - vivisectionists, politicians, scientists in involved in controversial genetic research etc.
• A random attack from an individual/group who are disturbed/discovered via an attempt to attack more high-profile building and choose a lower profile residential building due to the lower levels of security compared to public or government buildings.

It is often a requirement of most mortgage lenders that terrorism insurance in place. The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) guidance states that “serious consideration should be given to the taking out of terrorism insurance” to “protect the parties as far as reasonably possible from unexpected liabilities”.

Property Owners Liability provides protection in respect of claims from third parties if they suffer personal injury or property damage at the property and is included within the buildings insurance. Insurers will cover the cost of any damages and legal defence.

Yes, by setting up a standing order with your bank. Please contact us at insurance@homegroundonline.com or call us on 020 3966 2974

The insurance policy provided by HomeGround covers the building as a whole and your building owner is obligated to do so under the terms of the lease. Cover for an individual flat within a development is littered with pitfalls if there was a claim that affected multiple flats, common areas or in worse case a total loss.

However, we are committed to sourcing competitive premiums on behalf of our customers and would be happy for you to obtain alternative quotations on a ‘like for like’ basis as the current policy.

Please contact insurance@homegroundonline and we will provide the information we would expect an insurer to need when considering a quotation.

Please contact insurance@homegroundonline.com for a copy of your policy documents.

Within the policy the interest of freeholders, lessors, lessees, licensees, underlessees, assignees, mortgagees, financiers, lenders, receivers, tenants and occupiers are automatically noted under the ‘Other Interests’ clause, which should satisfy the requirements of lenders. Insurers do not issue individual endorsements or letters.

A building with many inhabitants/dwellings, each with their own water supply, means that the opportunity for a claim is much greater. Should water leak from one property it is likely that it will damage many others in the same block.

The costs of claims for multi occupancy properties are significantly higher and we expect premiums to be considerably more expensive than that to insure a single dwelling house.

Please contact our team of insurance professionals at insurance@homegroundonline.com or call us on 020 3966 2974.