My Aviva BISF House Buildings Insurance

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I have just discovered this site and one thing that caught my eye was Aviva and house Insurance, so I thought I would share my experience.

My BISF house was externally refurbished by the local authority in 1996 which included a new roof

The lower cement render had been taken off and new insulation and a fibreglass boarding system was fitted, affixed to a substantial treated wooden frame.

The upper steel sheets were removed and re-clad with new insulation and a treated wooden frame. It was finished off with new doors and double glazing and all work was carried out by approved contractors with no issues to date .

All of the metal frame was checked and treated with a protective coating whilst exposed .

The House was purchased from the local authority in 2004. Full survey were obtained for mortgage as required, plus a further report was carried out for the building insurance. All carried out through a broker for Norwich Union insurance, now Aviva. The insurance has been renewed yearly ever since with no issues

The house was remortgaged in 2007 with no issues and currently I’m paying just 2.58% interest.

Responses

  1. I was been told each house cost £20000 to refurbish at the time in 1996.
    The road of BISF houses run from 33 to 92 so 59 houses there are about 10 which had already been bought so were not done ( CF47 9YJ ) .
    An instresting part of the insurance however was that i did have to claim on the buildings part due to escape of water from a leaking toilet which required a new ceiling this was in 2008 and the insurance assessed and repaired the damage in less than 3 weeks.
    The lender is Birmingham Mideshire
    Martin

  2. Thank you for sharing that with us Martin and we are glad to have you with us!

    Aviva insurance was not a name that was banded around very often until recently and it’s good to hear the views from other BISF owners who are also AVIVA customers as it helps other users to decide who to apply to.
    However you may be an exception to the rule having been a former Norwich Union Customer. There are cases where Aviva will maintain current customers insurance obligations even though their current underwriters do not accept BISF properties for new customers.

    We recently contacted AVIVA to ask why they no longer insure new BISF customers. They responded by saying that they do not insure BISF properties and any applications would be met with a refusal.

    You do appear to have an excellent mortgage rate too, may I ask who your mortgage is through?

    It also sounds like you have had the vast majority of external renovations completed which we feel is a valuable bonus particularly when one views the costs to do this today. Has your entire road been renovated or are there still a few left in original condition?

    Marc