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| Need Listed House Insurance? Learn More About Listed Home Insurance |
So what is a listed building and how do I go about protecting this investment with the most appropriate insurance. A listed building can be classified as a building that has been registered on the Statutory List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest.
these type of buildings ensure that our Great British heritage is preserved as best as possible by keeping with a building's original architecture to maintain the historic interest. With such measures in place on such buildings come special considerations and restrictions on building planning.
When purchasing a listed property you are in effect signing up to help maintain the building in line with its original glory. In return, in many cases you're living within Britain's true great heritage. So why do listed property owners often experience difficulties in trying to obtain listed house insurance? The simple answer being that it's more risky and expensive to repair or rebuild in the event of a serious claim.
Quite often with listed buildings, there will be a need to use like for like structural and building materials. If those materials are, for example, 100 years old, then it is highly likely that the material has been superseded with a cheaper and easier to apply alternative material. If these cannot be used, then often this is when building repairs and costs can start to spiral. For that very reason, mainstream insurers will typically not offer listed building insurance.
Instead you should look for listed building insurance by sourcing a specialist provider company that offers this specialist insurance cover for grades I, II or II*.
The regulations around listed properties are different if you own a listed building in Scotland or Northern Ireland where Grades A and B apply so when choosing a listed house insurance provider make sure you are covered for the grading of your building. Insurers will be able to clarify this detail for you.
All surviving buildings built before 1700 that still resemble the original state of the building will be declared as a listed building. It is also common for all buildings built between 1700 and 1840 to also be listed. As time goes on, the criteria by which the declaration of a building as listed is far more stringent so any building built after 1945 has to be of exceptional importance to be classed as listed. Whenever a listed property is insured, it's important to set up the right level of listed building insurance. This not only protects your investment and your home but protects British heritage by helping ensure that in the event of a claim the listed property will be restored as closely as possible to its original state.
If you already have listed house insurance in place, then take a good look at the policy and make sure you are covered for all eventualities. Just as importantly make sure that you are paying a fair premium for the listed building insurance that has been provided. If not, then maybe it's time for you to shop around.