A homeowner who failed to tell his insurer about £39,160 of building work had his fire claim declined, regardless of whether the work had caused the fire.
In a decision published earlier this year, the Financial Ombudsman Service found the insurer had acted fairly. Work began in March 2025, but the insurer only learned about it after a fire the following month. It said it would not have continued cover on any terms had it known the value of the works, and cancelled the policy back to the date they started. The homeowner said he had assumed someone else would tell the insurer.
Assumptions about who provides cover are a concern for Louise Kerridge (pictured left), team leader, and Joe Heffer (pictured right), broker development executive, at Howden’s Renovation Plan. “One of the biggest misconceptions we see is homeowners assuming their existing home insurance, or their contractor insurance, will automatically cover a renovation project including the existing structures. That’s not always the case.”
Renovation is hardly a niche activity. Nearly half of UK homeowners (49%) undertook a renovation in the last 12 months, according to the 2026 UK Houzz & Home Report, and around two in five now regard their current home as their forever home.
Renovations rarely line up with policy dates. A project planned in spring can be well under way before the next renewal, and insurers’ appetites differ once it is. Some will continue cover through a build, while others apply conditions, exclusions or restrictions, particularly where structural work is involved.
When BIBA renewed its member scheme with Howden in August, chief executive Graeme Trudgill said renovation projects can create gaps in standard home cover that most policyholders don’t anticipate, particularly while building work is under way. The most common triggers are unoccupied property conditions once a home is left empty for an extended period, structural work exclusions that remove cover for damage caused by the building process itself, and unsecured site conditions, where cover falls away if the property is left open or accessible overnight.
The window for acting is short. The Renovation Plan team suggests raising a project with the existing insurer around a month before work starts. Most quotes are valid for 30 days, which leaves room to arrange specialist renovation or building cover if the current insurer won’t continue. Once work has begun, some insurers may be unable to offer cover at all.
“The more information we have from the start, the better,” said the Renovation Plan team. Detailed plans, work schedules, project timelines, start and completion dates and a clear scope of work all help, along with copies of contracts and details of the existing property and the contractors involved.
That matters most on specialist projects. For a self-build, insurers want to know who is managing the project and doing the work, and whether the right liabilities and warranties are in place. Basement excavations bring neighbouring properties, and the input of structural engineers and architects, into focus. Listed buildings add specialist materials, skills and planning requirements that affect both the cost and the time needed to rebuild or repair. Contract terms can complicate placement too, as some building contracts require cover in joint names, which not every insurer can provide.
The hardest cases are those where renovation work only comes up after it has started, by which point the options have narrowed considerably.
“Simply asking clients whether they are planning any building or renovation work during renewal discussions can make a huge difference.”
The earlier a project is identified, the more time there is to understand the risk, gather the information insurers need and arrange suitable cover before work begins. With so many homeowners investing in the property they already have, a question left unasked at renewal is more likely to surface instead at claim stage.
