A very worrying situation with regard to home and business insurance has come to my attention in recent weeks, as under new terms and conditions drawn up by the insurance industry, there may be tens of thousands of people throughout the country whose homes have been placed in high risk category with regard to flooding and who are not aware that changes have been made. Not alone will these people face huge hikes in premiums, that’s if they can get a quote at all, but it will also affect any possible sale of those houses and also the ability of anyone to secure a mortgage on them.
I was told by a spokesperson in the Insurance Federation that a new formula was being used to calculate flood risk but when I asked to see the formula I was refused. Even the updated local area maps which have indicated that certain areas have been taken out of the risk category are being ignored. Even worse is the fact that in many cases there are areas being included in the risk category that have never experienced any flooding at all. It is a very serious situation and it looks to me like this is an excuse for the insurance companies to rip people off by charging huge premiums and in many cases will not quote them at all in areas where there is little or no flood risk.
I am aware of areas in my own constituency where this has happened and I am sure this applies in every other area in the country. In one case locally a house which had insurance, was sold and the buyers got their mortgage, but when they went to get house insurance they were refused and the sale collapsed. I am calling on the relevant Government Ministers who are responsible for flooding and the insurance industry to make statements on the matter. This is a situation that will affect tens of thousands of people throughout the country and the insurance industry is once again running roughshod over the people with total disregard.
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