Moving into your self-build: switching from site insurance to home insurance

A self-build policy is written for a building site. Home insurance is written for a lived-in house. The risk is the stretch between them: the site policy has ended or is about to, the home policy has not started, and a house that is nearly finished is uninsured. Below: how to find the date the site policy stops, how to line up the home policy, and what to do if the build runs late or you move in early. For what the site covers are, see self-build insurance in Ireland. The conversion to home insurance glossary entry is the short version.

It gives no prices and recommends no insurer. The wording quoted is one published product, so your policy may differ: the wording and schedule you were given decide.

What ends your self-build insurance?

Look in your policy for an end trigger. Four are common, and a policy may combine them:

1. A fixed end date in the schedule (the page listing your cover, sums and dates). The insurer’s cover stops at that date whether or not the house is finished.
2. Completion or handover. Cover for a part of the works stops once it is completed and delivered up to the owner.
3. Taking into use. Cover for a part stops once the owner or occupier starts using it.
4. A separate stoppage clause. Cover can be suspended if work stops for a set period.

The Optis Self Build wording V082024, General Exclusions 2 and 3, printed page 15, shows how it can read. It excludes loss of or damage to any part of the project site after that part has been completed and delivered up to the owner, tenant or occupier, or after it has been taken into use by them. For a private dwelling completed pending sale, it allows ninety days from completion, or until sale if earlier. That ninety days is for a house you are selling, not a grace period for a house you are moving into.

The same wording defines a maintenance period of up to twelve months after a completion or taking-over certificate (Definitions, printed page 9). Its extended maintenance cover is limited to damage caused by contractors fixing defects, or arising from a cause occurring on site during construction. It is not a general cover for a lived-in house.

So the answer to “when does it stop?” is the earliest of whatever applies in your wording. Write each date and trigger beside your build programme. If you cannot tell from the document, ask your broker, and ask for the answer in writing.

Why moving in does not start home insurance

Home insurance is a separate contract. Nothing in the site policy passes to it, and no insurer starts a home policy because you collected the keys. You arrange it, agree a start date, and answer the insurer’s questions about a new house. Tell them:

• that the house is newly built, and the construction method, such as block or timber frame or modular;
• whether any work is outstanding, such as landscaping, a room not fitted out, or snagging repairs;
• the date you will move in, and whether the house will be empty for any stretch before then;
• the rebuild cost you propose to insure.

The sum for home insurance is the cost to rebuild, not what the build cost you and not the market value. The Central Bank’s explainer on avoiding under-insurance sets out how to avoid insuring too little, and sum insured applies it to a self-build. Your final build cost is a better starting point than the figure on the first quote, but check it with your broker.

Answer every question truthfully. The Optis wording warns that failing to tell the insurer about a change in the information you gave can affect a claim or make the insurance invalid (Information You Have Given Us, printed page 7). A home policy asks you to disclose facts too, so answer each question fully.

How do you change over with no gap?

Aim for the home policy to start on or before the day the site policy stops. Overlap is a cost you can see; a gap is a risk you cannot.

1. Find the end trigger and date in your site policy, as above.
2. Get home quotes about two months out, with the date you expect to complete and the date you expect to move in. Brokers may need time to ask for documents.
3. Collect the paperwork the insurer or lender may ask for. Typical items are the certificate of compliance on completion, the final BER, electrical certificate and any structural defects policy (see structural defects cover). What an insurer actually asks for is its own decision, so ask.
4. Agree the changeover in writing with both insurers. Ask the site insurer to confirm the end date and the trigger, and the home insurer to confirm the start date and that it accepts the house in its actual state.
5. Tell your lender. Send them the home policy confirmation if they asked for it.
6. Keep both documents together with your mortgage and completion papers.

What your lender may want

A lender can ask for proof of home insurance before the final drawdown, which can come before you move in. One bank’s self-build steps require a building insurance policy, and mortgage protection, to be in place before drawdown (Step 9). Read your offer letter for the wording and see what insurance a lender requires.

What needs to be on the register first

Where the statutory certification route applies to a new dwelling, the certificate of compliance on completion has to be submitted and entered on the register before the building is opened, occupied or used, under Article 20F of S.I. 9/2014. Allow 21 days for validation and registration. This is a legal timing point as well as an insurance one: a home insurer may ask for the certificate, and you should not plan a move-in date earlier than the certificate can be registered.

What if you want to move in before the house is finished?

Partial occupation is where the changeover gets awkward. Under the published wording above, taking a part of the project into use ends cover for that part, and the unfinished remainder may still need building-site cover. A normal home policy may not suit a house with building work still going on.

Before you move in, ask both insurers, in writing:

• Does the site policy still cover the rooms or areas still being built, and on what terms?
• Does the home policy cover the finished areas, and does it accept the unfinished work, such as an unfinished attic or an external area?
• Who insures the contents, tools and materials you keep in the house?
• Is your builder’s own cover affected by you living there?

Do not assume the answer is yes for the whole house. If the two insurers cannot agree, delay the move-in rather than leave a part of the house uninsured. A related situation, living in a caravan or cabin on site during the build, is in living on site while you build.

What if the build overruns?

The most common cause of a gap is a build that finishes later than the policy. Tell your broker as soon as the programme slips, even when the end date is months off, and ask for an extension or a replacement policy with written start and end dates and any extra conditions or premium. Asking is not cover. Do not rely on it until you have it in writing.

Work that stops can also matter. The Optis wording suspends cover under Item 1 if work stops for three consecutive months unless the insurer agrees in writing to continue it (General Conditions 5, printed page 18). That is one product’s term. Your own policy could be shorter, longer or different, and it is not a number of months you can wait before telling the broker. The delayed or paused build section of the main guide lists what to send.

If the site policy has already ended, contact your broker the same day, state the expiry date and the current state of the work, and report any loss or damage. Do not assume a new policy covers the interval in between. For a loss that may fall inside the old cover, follow the claim steps.

A worked example: the changeover, week by week

These dates are invented to show the order of the steps. Your trigger and timings will be different.

When	What happens	Action
Monday 2 March	Site policy schedule shows an end date of Friday 29 May. Programme says the house is complete by Friday 15 May.	Write both dates beside the programme. Ask the broker which trigger applies and get it in writing.
Monday 30 March	Two months to the end date.	Ask home insurers for quotes, giving a move-in date of Saturday 23 May and the expected rebuild cost.
Friday 24 April	Builder says the kitchen is two weeks late.	Tell the site insurer in writing. Ask for a three-week extension to Friday 19 June, with the dates confirmed.
Monday 4 May	Certificate of compliance on completion lodged. Registration takes up to 21 days.	Do not move in until it is on the register. Move-in date slips to Saturday 6 June.
Wednesday 27 May	Extension confirmed in writing to Friday 19 June.	Choose a home policy with a start date of Saturday 6 June, no later than the move-in date and no earlier than needed, and tell the lender.
Friday 5 June	Certificate registered. Final BER issued.	Give the home insurer both documents. Get written confirmation of the start date.
Saturday 6 June	Home policy starts. Site policy runs to 19 June.	Move in. Tell the site insurer, because taking the house into use may end its cover for that part under some wordings. Keep both letters.

In this example the extension covers the gap while the certificate is registered, and the home policy starts on the day of the move. The last row is the uncomfortable part: check with the site insurer whether the move-in cuts its cover short, rather than assume the 19 June date still holds.

Common mistakes

1. Assuming cover continues until the keys are handed over. The trigger is whatever your wording says.
2. Assuming home insurance starts when you move in. You have to arrange it.
3. Applying for the home policy in the last week. A broker may need documents that take time to get.
4. Telling only one insurer that you have moved in, or that work is unfinished.
5. Insuring the house for what it cost rather than what it would cost to rebuild.
6. Moving in before the completion certificate is on the register, where the statutory route applies.

What to do next

1. Check which covers you still need at the end of the build, then raise them with your broker.
2. Find your site policy’s end trigger and date, and write them in your programme.
3. Ask your lender when it needs proof of home insurance.
4. Ask your broker for home quotes about two months before the end date, and agree the changeover in writing with both insurers.
5. Keep every confirmation with your completion papers.