We moved into this house 16 months ago. We purchased it from the grandson of an elderly couple that were in a home.
About 3 months ago we received, out of the blue, a demand to pay the insurance on this house which the previous occupants (but they were in a resthome) had taken out.
We sent on the demand to the notaire for her to forward it to the grandson. I copied the correspondence to the assurers making the demand.
But today the assurers have emailed me (translated):
"Hello, we claim the period from 05/12/2023 but to the purchasers not to the heirs. â
âWhen a property is sold, the home insurance policy is automatically transferred from the seller to the buyer. This prevents the home from remaining uninsured, even for a short period".
To date, MUTUELLE xxxxxxxx has claimed 358.00 euros from you.
So it seems the grandson hasnât paid. It also looks like the contract is still in place.
I insured the house from our âday 1â (Oct 20 2023) with my own assurance company.
As its insured twice, thats a double indemnity potential, so you might approach your insurers for infomation as it could void one of the contracts. Havent a clue how that may work in France.
I went straight to the insurance office as soon as I had signed the acte de vente as the purchasers had confirmed their insurance would be from the date of the sale so the property was not left uninsured as the purchasers were arriving later in the day to sign their part. I had contacted the insurers previously to warn them and they had the paperwork ready to sign and resiliate the cover with a note from my notaire confirming it was sold.
Check with your notaire, when I sold a house here the notaire provided a attestaion to give to my assurers and no further payments were demanded /taken. My notaire told the buyer it is the duty of the buyer to insure the house.
Refer it to the notaire and ask them to deal with it
Either theyâll point out it was in the documents you signed at sale that you continued with their same insurance policy and the notaire will show you the exact text (check your own copy to see that itâs the same as the doc you signed) or theyâll have to tell the seller they forgot to cancel their own insurance policy. Ask for by next Fridayâs date as you hope the seller isnât going to have to pay their own insurance co for too much longer due to them having forgotten to cancel.
Just for their own information you can kindly inform them that as normal you have engaged your own insurance company as at the date of sale.
I wouldnât enter into cancelling it myself so not send an LRAR unless you are confronted with undeniable proof you signed something that clearly included stepping into the sellerâs existing insurance contract. If you cancel it or send an LRAR then that could mean you accept the contract is yours even if itâs not.
I am not an expert but I donât consider taking over âservicesâ to a house to include their insurance. Electricity, gas, yes. Insurance nope not heard of stepping into the rest of their contract. If you wanted to use their insurer Iâd expect that insurer to want to open a full new contract anyway.
I think maybe the family didnât know about the insurance or just forgot, and the insurer is trying it on to suck on the teat of regular payments. As frequently in France - the behaviour seems to border on brazen theft in at least 2 incidents Iâve had here.
Happy if it turns out Iâm wrong but I suggest you send the matter briskly to the notaire with a courtesy copy to the family if you feel like it as above.
PS Be nice as must be difficult to have both parents in a home and stressful but at least theyâve sold the property.
Just a thought for any prospective Buyer⊠ensure that the âdetailsâ on the existing House Insurance are accurate, before you take the Insurance on board yourself.
In my experience, Owners do not always think it necessary to advise their Insurers when/if they alter their property. The number of Bedrooms etc etc ⊠should be amended as and when.
