Telling your insurer you're moving house

Home and car insurance are priced on where you live — the postcode is doing a lot of the work in the quote — so changing address isn't an administrative update to be done when you get round to it. MoneyHelper puts it plainly: "Insurance policies might not cover you after you change address, so it's best to let your insurer know before you move."

That's the whole point of this page. Nearly every other item on the who to notify list can be done in the fortnight after you arrive. This one wants doing while you still have a moving date and no keys.

What happens if you don't

Citizens Advice describes the general rule: a material fact is "any information which may have affected the insurer's decision to insure you, and how much to charge for the insurance", and where someone deliberately doesn't disclose one, "your claim will be refused and the policy will be cancelled." Where you keep the house and the car is squarely that kind of information.

MoneyHelper's own table of what goes wrong sets it out per item: for "Home or car insurance", the consequence of not updating is "Not be covered if you need to claim." For the driving licence or V5C it's a fine of up to £1,000 — that one's on the DVLA page.

Careless is not the same as deliberate — but don't rely on the difference

An overlooked address change almost never means someone was trying to get cheaper cover by lying. It usually just means a move happened and a phone call didn't. The law actually draws that distinction, and it's more specific than "your claim gets refused": under the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012, a deliberate or reckless non-disclosure lets the insurer refuse the whole claim and keep the premiums, but a careless one — the category a forgotten address falls into — only allows that if the insurer "would not have entered into the contract on any terms" at all. Where they'd simply have charged more for the new postcode, the Act instead lets them "reduce proportionately the amount to be paid on a claim" — paying out in the same ratio as the premium you paid to the premium you should have paid.

What to do, and when

1. 1

   As soon as the date is real

   Tell your home and car insurers the new address and the date you're moving. MoneyHelper notes the insurer will tell you whether there's an admin fee and whether the price changes — that's expected, not a penalty, and it's more typical for home and car because the address sets the price.

2. 2

   Ask the buildings insurance question separately

   If you're buying, cover generally needs to run from the point you're contractually bound — exchange of contracts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, conclusion of missives in Scotland — not from completion. That's earlier than most people assume and it's usually a mortgage condition. The timeline has it in the right week.

3. 3

   Ask specifically about the move itself

   Whether contents are covered in transit, and whether cover overlaps at both addresses on the day. Don't assume either.

4. 4

   Then the rest of the policies

   Pet, life, travel and health insurance all hold your address too. They're less likely to change in price, but an insurer that can't reach you is a problem of its own when you need to claim.

5. 5

   Get the confirmation in writing

   Same rule as every other change of address: a confirmation you can point at is worth more than a phone call you remember making.

Two things worth knowing before you ring

• The price can go either way. A postcode with lower claim rates can reduce it. People put this off expecting bad news and sometimes the news is good.
• Renewal isn't a free reset. If your renewal happens to fall after the move, you still need to tell them at the time of the move — the policy you're currently insured under is the one covering the gap, and waiting means a period where the address on it is wrong.

Where this sits in the plan

MovePlan puts the insurers in the weeks before the move rather than after it, for the reason above, and drafts the letters with your name, both addresses and your date already in them. It's £14.99 once for a six-month pass — it organises and drafts, and the telling is yours.