INSURANCE VALUATIONS / REINSTATEMENT COST ASSESSMENTS

Are you confused about how much your property should be insured for? We are here to help. For a small fee BTP can produce a detailed assessment, taking the risk out of the process.

Insurance policies are generally based on the cost of total loss and so the sum insured should represent the cost of completely rebuilding the property, including any demolition works, outbuildings, conservatories, swimming pools, boundary features, professional fees and statutory approvals.

Setting the reinstatement value on your property is not a simple task. Some people mistakenly think that the reinstatement cost is the same as the market value, but in many cases this could result in you being significantly over insured.

Being over insured can mean that you are paying unnecessarily high insurance premiums, but conversely, being under insured can result in serious problems if you have to make a claim against your insurance policy. This will often leave you picking up the bill personally for the shortfall or a percentage of the shortfall. Being under insured can therefore be a very costly mistake.

There are several UK based organisations including the BCIS which give free advice to householders to help you estimate the rebuild cost of your property, but in our experience this does not appear to reflect the high cost of building works locally and it can therefore be quite inaccurate.

Some local insurance brokers also provide guidance on rebuild costs. This can be more accurate than the guidance given by the UK organisations but there are still significant variations and the guidance does not account for the highly bespoke nature of Guernsey property. Whilst in the UK a large portion of the housing stock is standardised (terraced or estate housing), much of Guernsey’s housing stock is bespoke, with relatively few properties being similar. It is because of these variations that every property should undergo a detailed individual assessment by a Chartered Surveyor to accurately establish the rebuild cost.

If you purchase a new home and commission an RICS Home Survey such as the Homebuyer Report, then this will come with a reinstatement cost assessment as part of the service; however, we are also able to provide this as a standalone service.

Some insurers will apply an annual percentage for inflation, to your insurance value and over the course of several years this can result in a significant increase through compound percentage. This approach quickly becomes inaccurate so regular formal reassessments are recommended, to ensure that the sum that your property is insured for accurately reflects the local cost of building works at any given time.

Please feel free to contact us to discuss your requirements further. We can then provide you with a quote to undertake a formal assessment on your property.