Insurance companies warn homebuyers they won’t cover high subsidence risk

In areas of Ireland most affected by subsidence – including parts of counties Cork, Galway, Clare and Roscommon – that means they will struggle to secure the home insurance their mortgage provider requires.

The research conducted by Cork-based engineering and consulting firm BCE Consulting Engineers found that none of Ireland’s five leading insurers would provide cover when a house is situated in an area deemed high risk.

BCE surveyed FBD, AXA, Zurich Ireland, Allianz and 123.

Four of the firms said subsidence would be excluded from the policy offered, if one was offered at all. Allianz said they would not offer any form of insurance for affected properties.

Insurance is about covering risk, not about covering inevitable events

Subsidence insurance protects against damage caused by the sinking or settling of the ground under a property.

Insurance Ireland who is the representative organisation for insurance in Ireland commented on the findings.

BCE said that if insurers think the risk is too high they will simply not underwrite the risk, so homebuyers need to know where they stand when they are looking at a property

“Insurance companies make their own individual underwriting decisions. Where the risk of subsidence is so high as to be tantamount to inevitable, it may not be possible to provide cover for subsidence.

“Insurance is about covering the risk of something happening, not about covering inevitable events,” it said.

Along with insurance firms, BCE also contacted the mortgage providers at AIB, Bank of Ireland, PTSB and ESB.

Their reaction was similar. Only AIB said it could see any scenario where it might allow mortgage drawdown in a situation where subsidence is not covered under the policy. The others ruled it out entirely.

Stephen Boyle, founder of BCE Consulting Engineers, said the risk needs to be flagged earlier in the sale process.

“When buying a house, home or buildings, insurance is often only arranged once a sale has been agreed – as buyers don’t want to begin their cover too early.

“This means buyers have gone through the mortgage approval process without the lender accounting for the house’s location in a subsidence area, even though they will likely refuse drawdown when the buyers inevitably fail to secure subsidence cover,” he said.

Would-be buyers should contact insurers and mortgage providers at the earliest stage, he said.

He also pointed to information that is freely available online, such as Engineers Ireland, Gamma and Geological Survey Ireland.