Home Insurance (March 2018)

I stumbled across something online which stated that prior to completion it is necessary to have insured the house. Whilst this is clearly sensible, no one had told me that it was a pre-condition for completion.

So next step was to find out how to go about getting a quote. There is the choice of insuring with a UK company or a French one and there are pros and cons with both. I'll post later on what I find (once I've gone through the process), but for now I will share the fact that you will probably need to know:
  • When the property was built
  • How many reception rooms it has
  • How many bedrooms it has
  • How many room are over 30 square metres
  • How many rooms are under 30 square metres
  • The area of the cellar
  • The value of the house
If you're like me you probably only know the last of that list for sure. And as we're not planning to go back until it is time to sign the act de vente, how do I get the info I need?

By looking at the diagnostics report I was able to determine the build date was pre:1950 but not the exact date (I think 1900-1949 will suffice).

There were floor plans in the diagnostic reports but without dimensions. I have therefore estimated based on the fact the frontage 'looks' to be 8 metres and the plans suggest the building is basically square.

The number of bedrooms is an interesting one, in that the house is on three floors (plus cellar) and it is debatable whether one of the rooms on the 1st floor is (currently) a bedroom - we will probably use it as a study. And though there are 3 bedrooms currently on the 2nd floor, we are thinking of turning one into a salle de bain. For initial insurance purposes we'll probably declare the three on the 2nd floor as the bedrooms.

The above provide me with the basis for estimating the information the insurers may want, but I'd be more comfortable if I knew the information to be accurate. I've therefore written to the immobilier asking if they can confirm my estimates. Hopefully they will be forthcoming.



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