My dad's insurers have sent him a letter saying they will no longer insure his property as 'the area is prone to subsidence'. His house is over 400 years old and we've never heard of or seen any evidence of an incidence of subsidence in this village or any in the surrounding area.

Is there any way of finding out the data? He will presumably have to declare this to any new insure. If the area has suddenly become prone to subsidence then fair enough but I'm fairly sure it hasn't.

Why not contact the Insurance Ombudsman about this? Don't have an address but google and you'll probably find it.

Any area that has clay soils could be subject to subsidence. 40% of properties inside the M25 motorway could be prone to subsidence. My sister lives in London and a number of properties in her road have had subs problems.

Where I live, a few properties have had subsidence problems. But these have been down to people planting trees and other vegitation which have caused the problem.

The Insurers have obviously dealt with a subs claim in your fathers postcide area and have therefore decided not to offer cover for other properties in the area. This is their choice and there is nothing your father can do. He simply needs to contact a decent local broker (not Swintons) and they should be able to find cover. He needs to disclose the fact that Insurers have declined renewal because of a general subsidence issue in the area, which is not something he is aware of. It is up to any new Insurers to check the risk and decide whether they can cover or not.

If you go to homecheck.co.uk you can put the postcode in and it will give you a general idea of the risk level.

I have a feeling that they have an obligation to contiue insurance - of course they may well put the premiums up.

yes you should contact the Insurance Ombudsman. You should also complain to TS.

I would also write a good letter to the local MP. I can imagine that he/she would be very concerned to hear about this and would be more than keen to take the matter up for you.

This is the kind of thing that MPs do very well as it is non-polictical and touches on the welfare of a large number of their consituents.

Also, contact the local newspaper.

Tell us what area you are in because others may be in the same position

Bankfodder

This is no obligation to continue cover on the property if it is only the area that has suffered subsidence issues.

It is only if the house had suffered from a subsidence claim with the Insurers, that there a voluntary agreement with the ABI for the Insurers to continue cover.

If you look at the areas that suffered from the flooding last year, Insurers have withdrawn cover or put excesses on policies that make it almost worthless to pay for Insurance cover that includes flood cover. The government moaned about it, but there was not much that they can do. Insurance is a business and it is up to them what risks they will accept.

The area is Cambridgeshire, a PE postcode. The thing about clay soil is interesting as we know it isn't on clay. I'm now wondering if this company uses quite wide area data.

Have just used the homecheck thing and it's come up as a 'moderate' risk for the general postcode. According to the insurers the area is high risk. We're talking of the sort of villages where subsidence problems would be big news and yet we've never heard of a one. I've even just checked down at the village shop/post office which is of course the centre of all knowledge

OK, it's now become quite surreal. Been and checked with my dad and the letter is from Lloyds/TSB who he insures through and actually says that because the house is in an area 'liable to subsidence' they will not be able to renew cover through Legal & General. I have just rung Legal & General for a quote and have pointedly mentioned subsidence risk. They are quite happy with the postcode and have no red flags.

I think Lloyds/TSB have made a mistake here. I thought that they could select the underwriter from a range of Insurers and they would select the company that offered the best quote for the risk at each renewal. So if L&G were the current Insurers and they could not offer cover, they would then rebroke and offer cover through another.

I suspect this has nothing to do with subsidence, it is to do with the age of the property. Because the house is 400 years old, some Insurers won't cover.

Best advice is for your Dad to phone Lloyds/TSB and ask to speak to their complaints department. Armed with your information that L&G would cover the risk, ask why they are saying that they would not. Also ask why they cannot arrange cover via a different Insurer by re-broking.

I too believe it has nothing to do with subsidence. The house has been insured with L&G through Lloyds/TSB for some time now and they've always known the age. What I'm cross about is subsidence being mentioned at all. It probably seemed a good general excuse to whoever at Lloyds/TSB wrote the letter but if I hadn't intervened on behalf of my elderly father the house could have been blighted for evermore where insurance is concerned.

My father will not be asking Lloyds/TSB to look around for him. My son is a forensic investigator, contracted mainly by insurance brokers/companies so he knows which ones actually give two hoots about their customers. The silver lining to this fiasco is that at last he has been persuaded to transfer his custom to the brokers used by the rest of the family.