Re: issues with house insurance for cork city southside
Yes, there is a lot of subsidence on the southside of Cork city. There are also a lot of other risks in other parts of the country, e.g. flooding. What I'd like to know is: do insurance companies quote saying something like 'We'll insure your house but you're not covered for subsidence, that is, you will never be able to claim under this risk heading.' (A secondary question is: if you are explicitly excluded for subsidence cover will the premium be cheaper? Cynically I'd say 'No'!).
Is it possible to say to an insurance company: I know subsidence is prevalent in my area and I'm prepared to take out a policy under which this risk is excluded?
Does anyone have any experience with this (whatever the excluded risk was)? Given, for instance, the frequency of flooding in say Fermoy and Mallow what experience have people had there with insurance in terms of getting any other kind of cover (e.g. fire, theft, etc.)?
Another worrying issue here is that if a small number or only one insurance company will take on houses in areas with blanket risk (such as subsidence or flood) with or without subsidence cover, then a monopoly situation might arise due to other players not being willing to enter the market.
It would be useful to have more information on various types of cover available for domestic buildings. Or are they all all-in-one policies?