Cancelled Home Insurance

All, I have been a long term reader of this forum but registering for the first time.

Sorry to have to share a tale of woe but I am in trouble with home insurance. I got a quote from a new provider, paid in full at the time that I got the quote and expected the policy document to issue with the receipt.

I had to contact the company when a reminder letter issued and was sent a policy document which I printed and signed but had issues scanning so planned on doing it when I was back in the work the following week. I ended up having to travel for work and was under enormous pressure and suffering from extreme stress and anxiety and I simply forgot about it.

I did submit the signed proposal form, late, but when I contacted the company they had cancelled the policy earlier that day - I was not aware of this when I sent the signed proposal. There was no non-disclosure, no inaccuracy in what I had disclosed and no prior claim or anything untoward and I was put back on cover the next day under a new policy for the same premium. This was human error and stupidity and nothing more. I have appealed the decision but given the consequences I wanted to know if this is something anyone else has ever experienced and what the outcome was - good or bad.

Many thanks

Are you saying they refunded your payment and you had to take out a new policy? So you were uninsured for 1 day is that it? I’m not sure what are the ramifications now if nothing happened that warranted a claim. You failed to provide necessary documents for whatever reason and they cancelled the policy. Luckily nothing happened but is it that you are concerned about disclosing a cancelled policy going forward? I would have assumed the declaration of cancelled policies refers more to different issues than for example payment/lost documents/late signing type of things but I am open to correction on that.

What do you want from the company? It seems you messed up and they messed up and now you have coverage, so back to the status quo. I'm puzzled.

Thank you both. The disclosure of the cancelled policy is the issue - technically I’m uninsured for a month even though in reality it was only one day. It is cancelled so as ridiculous as the reason is it seems to put me in the same category as any cancelled policy - I am not sure how companies look at people who have been cancelled for a “benign” reason and given the assumption in most policies that nobody in the household has a cancelled policy what that could mean

I see what you mean but it was cancelled on an administration technicality nothing more maybe do not change provider next year if it worries you possibly avoiding any necessary admissions or disclosures.

Stirling said:

This was human error and stupidity and nothing more. I have appealed the decision but given the consequences

Click to expand...

Again, what consequences? Have you suffered a loss? I'm sure the requirement to provide the signed policy was included in the reminder. They were perfectly within their rights to cancel.

You haven't been refused cover, and insurance often gets cancelled for a multitude of reasons, that won't prevent you shopping around in future.

On a strict view, OP has had a policy cancelled by an insurer.

If asked by any other insurer with whom OP may deal whether he/she has ever had a policy cancelled by a previous insurer a negative reply [from OP] could constitute misrepresentation. Also, OP could be considered to have misrepresented a material fact by giving a negative answer to another insurer.

In OP's position any question posed about cancellation by other insurers would need to be answered in the negative to be in the right.

Thank you all. I would never intend answering that question in the negative. My fear is whether an insurer, including the current one, would even look at the reason for the cancellation or just flat out refuse. Also, how an insurer would react on the disclosure of the fact that someone in the household, namely me, had a policy cancelled given that there is an assumption in most insurance terms and conditions that neither the insured nor anybody else in the household has a cancelled policy

As stated previously your current insurer would have knowledge of the event that led to the policy elapsing and the resulting new policy. Is there something else to this? If you are concerned just renew next year done and dusted nothing further required or am I missing something. I think you are beating yourself up about nothing.

Thank you - that is the plan. There is nothing else - I am just very worried and stressed which is what led to this situation and this is compounding that a bit. My issue is if I were to move in with my girlfriend she would have to make a declaration about having someone in the household with a cancelled policy would mean for her insurer

Look it is done now and there is nothing you can do but learn from it and put it behind you. I think you may be overthinking this, you made an honest oversight that was not fraudulent in its nature and has since been resolved. Submitting supporting documentation is a standard insurance practice and I am sure you are not the first person this has happened to. You have to self manage anxiety of this sort and stressing and overthinking is bad for your health. Try to put it behind you and recognise the error put practices in place for future renewals and let it go.

For practical purposes, OP should be able to renew with his current insurer with no problem as they will be aware of the facts.

However, IMHO the OP has a rational reason to be concerned given how stiff and pernickety insurance underwriters can be at times.
I would endorse the general thrust of daveinchcape at post #7 above.
I too would regard the action of the insurers as a classically and factually indisputable cancellation of a policy.

We know that the reasons for the cancellation are essentially administrative and absolutely nothing to do with any moral hazard.
However, it is not for OP to presume that because he/she knows the facts that any future insurers will be bound to think likewise.

What would I do ?

I would point out to the present insurers the worrisome situation in to which their rigidity has placed the OP as their customer.
Amusingly, the insurers were quick enough to take the full contractual consideration [the premium].
The cancellation issue almost seems petty but these are the things that can cause headaches. :mad:

I would ask the insurers to do two things ;
1. Reinstate the original policy from the start date for and from which they were paid full contractual consideration.
2. Issue OP with a letter confirming the reason for the cancellation and that the cancellation is considered withdrawn / negated.

If this could be done it should negate any worries as it would straighten out the issue now and for the future.

Experience.

Although not on all fours with OP's case I had a similar type of general issue.
My mother wanted to move her house insurance to a new insurance company.
The new company said that one feature of the house put the risk outside the scope of their "underwriting criteria" so they refused the application.
That refusal then became a material fact.
Worse, the refusal was made in error as the individual dealing with it did not know their business.
I complained.
The insurance company replied that the refusal had been made in error as the house was actually well within their underwriting criteria.
The refusal of cover was formally rescinded and a letter issued to that effect.

When my mother moved the house insurance again I advised her to answer in the affirmative about the refusal and to include the explanatory letter she received. She did that and there was no problem with the next insurer.

Sorry to waffle on but I have seen some of these apparently simple matters escalate because the problem was not nailed down when it arose.

Thank you all and I appreciate the time that you have all taken to respond and I think DirectDevil has summed up my fears perfectly. I know it sounds like I’m overthinking but I know they were perfectly within their rights to cancel and I feel vulnerable and afraid even though I have done nothing wrong which is a terrible feeling which compounds the stress and anxiety which led to this situation in the first place - one of those times where the insurer has done nothing wrong but it still feels like they’re ruining my life for what was just a mistake and nothing more which feels like a lonely place to be

It’s good to review the impact of the situation logically and to be aware of the potential impact of the cancelled policy. I think you have to accept that you have an accountability in the current situation that you find yourself. You failed to forward the required documentation within the time frame required and the resulting cancellation was as a result of those circumstances. You have the choice to consider engaging with the insurers as outlined by DirectDevil with the goal of both resolving the situation and also removing any further stress/worry from you.

Take remedial action and try to resolve the situation but it also needs to be kept in context. I put my parental hat on and would advise taking steps to resolve it to a satisfactory outcome but again you do need to move on from this. You may not able to control the unfortunate series of events that has occurred but you do have ultimate control in terms of how you react and respond. Catastrophic thinking can be detrimental to our mental health and personally have always found taking action and working through things are a helpful antedote.

You are overthinking and overreacting. Your life is not ruined because you submitted a form a few days late.

Nothing bad has actually happened. You still have insurance and you can renew with them no problem. Ask your insurer for a letter stating the reason for the cancellation. Then if you want to change insurer next year you show them that your policy was cancelled because you submitted your documents late. They will see that it's a completely trivial reason and give you the insurance.