Hi,

I've searched unsuccessfully for a definitive answer to this, hope someone here can help.

I had my household insurance policy cancelled due to receiving a criminal conviction, the sentence was 6 months suspended reduced to 4 months on appeal.

7 years have now passed and as I understand it the conviction is classed as spent and I do not have to declare it when applying for insurance.

But insurance companies also ask have you ever had insurance refused/cancelled.

Do I need to declare that I have had insurance cancelled when it was cancelled due to a conviction that is now spent and does not need to be declared in itself?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

If the conviction had nothing to do with the Home Insurance i.e. you did not try to commit fraud by making a false claim, then I would advise the following.

Use an Insurance brokers or phone companies directly to discuss this when asking for quotes or arranging Insurance. Because the conviction is spent, it does not need to be disclosed and if the cancellation only related to the conviction not being accepted by one Insurers underwriting guidelines, then the reason for cancellation should not be a problem for Insurers.

I am reluctant to advise you that because the conviction is spent that the cancellation does not need to be disclosed, because I would not want you to experience any hassle, if you needed to claim on the Insurance. It is sometimes better to mention something like this when approaching Insurers for quotes/cover, so they know about it and cannot use it against you to frustrate you when claiming.

How old were you when you received the conviction?

If the conviction had nothing to do with the Home Insurance i.e. you did not try to commit fraud by making a false claim, then I would advise the following.

Snip

It is sometimes better to mention something like this when approaching Insurers for quotes/cover, so they know about it and cannot use it against you to frustrate you when claiming.

Thx for your advice.

The conviction was for copyright offences, nothing to do with insurance.

My only qualm about declaring it is if it causes the premium to be loaded.

How old were you when you received the conviction?

55yrs. Should this make a difference?

Thx for your advice.

The conviction was for copyright offences, nothing to do with insurance.

My only qualm about declaring it is if it causes the premium to be loaded.

What offence did they actually convict you of?

The age would have been relevant if you were under 18 when convicted.

What offence did they actually convict you of?

 

The age would have been relevant if you were under 18 when convicted.

Can't remember the actual charges (paperwork lost) but the crime was selling copy dvd's.

You won't need to disclose the conviction as it's spent, however Insurers don't like dishonesty convictions which I think many will class this as.

If you have problems getting cover try this broker http://www.bureauinsure.co.uk/ or this charity http://www.unlock.org.uk/

You won't need to disclose the conviction as it's spent, however Insurers don't like dishonesty convictions which I think many will class this as.]

I know that I don't have to declare the conviction as it is now spent.

But

Do I have to declare the cancellation which was due to the conviction?

If I declare the cancellation any insurance company will want to know the reason for it.

This will mean declaring the conviction which I am not legally required to do.

You won't need to disclose the conviction as it's spent, however Insurers don't like dishonesty convictions which I think many will class this as.

 

If you have problems getting cover try this broker http://www.bureauinsure.co.uk/ or this charity http://www.unlock.org.uk/

Insurers are not allowed to discriminate in regard to a spent conviction. In theory they would not be allowed to use the cancellation issue, if it solely related to this spent conviction, as a reason not to quote/issue a policy. BUT Insurers can decide who they want to be their customer, the same as any other business. Not much you can do about it.

A bit of a harsh situation to be in and if you have any trouble the Unlock people linked to, are a good contact point.

There's something important to check here...

Why was the policy cancelled? was it cancelled by them because you informed them mid-term of your conviction, or was it cancelled because you didn't tell them about the conviction when taking out the policy?

If it's the former, then I'd argue that it shouldn't affect the premium charged, as they can't discriminate against you because of a spent conviction. I would expect you'd still need to disclose it though unfortunately.

If it's the latter, then the cancellation is not for your conviction, it's for mis-representation and as such will need to be disclosed in full and will likely affect the premium.

There's something important to check here...

 

Why was the policy cancelled? was it cancelled by them because you informed them mid-term of your conviction, or was it cancelled because you didn't tell them about the conviction when taking out the policy?

 

If it's the former, then I'd argue that it shouldn't affect the premium charged, as they can't discriminate against you because of a spent conviction. I would expect you'd still need to disclose it though unfortunately.

 

If it's the latter, then the cancellation is not for your conviction, it's for mis-representation and as such will need to be disclosed in full and will likely affect the premium.

Will try and explain the sequence of events.

The contents insurance was not in my name but in my wifes name, I was not mentioned on the policy at all.

I/we were not aware that it was necessary to inform the insurance company of the conviction. When my wife renewed the policy (twice) no questions were asked re convictions etc.

Approximately two and a half to three years after my conviction I dropped my phone into a saucepan of water and my wife phoned up to make a claim on the contents insurance.

She was asked then if either she or anyone else living in the house had any convictions.

She told them of my conviction and was asked why they had not been informed at the time. She explained that we were unaware of the need to do so and was asked to put the details in writing, this she did.

Some time passed and she received a letter from the insurance company telling her that the insurance had been cancelled and enclosing a cheque which it was explained was the refund of premiums back to the date of my conviction.

Hope the above is understandable.

Thanks to all for their advice thus far.

That makes it more difficult. Your wife had a policy (which included you) cancelled due to non disclosure. Your wife will need to disclose this for all Insurance arrangements, that a policy was cancelled, as she failed to meet a policy condition to disclose the conviction at the point it was incurred.

Suggest working with a local brokers, to see what they can arrange.

As UB has said, unfortunately, this means the cancellation will need to be disclosed indefinitely - your wifes policy was not cancelled because you had a conviction, it was cancelled because your wife did not disclose the conviction and thus misrepresented the risk.