How Brexit might affect your Northern Ireland property insurance

Brexit has certainly influenced some changes. Albeit at the moment, we’re not really clear where we are, from an insurance perspective, because in the past, what we did do and what large insurers and reinsurers did was in the European – in the old EU, was simply trade freely so- we had a UK insurer could insure risk in Europe, and vice versa. And there were no real issues. But now, obviously, there are different regulations, or there will be different regulations.

There has to be an agreement between the EU and the UK, as to how freely they can continue out those sorts of operations. So if you take a simple example, if you have an insurer in the past, who is insuring your risk in Europe, neither having the passport into what’s essentially a third area, a third – the EEA, the European Economic Area, so they’re gonna have to passport in there, and vice versa. So this creates more regulation from the European Union side where the firms who would have been regulated, they’re gonna have to go to the UK, and maybe risk regulation there, and vice versa. And that’s obviously creating problems on doubling up on regulation. So we need to come to an agreement there. So that’s the main issue and impact of Brexit that we can see so far.

How Brexit might affect your Northern Ireland property insurance-1

Insurance under one roof

We are specialists in many types of insurance

What is passporting in the insurance industry?

So basically, in the past, what you have is – say you took a Spanish insurer. And what you could do is because we’re all part of the same- we’re all part of the European Union. You’re able to passport in so just simply to ensure a risk in the UK. If you’re from Spain, for example, then you don’t have to face any extra regulation. So essentially, the UK would not have been a third country.

Now, UK is the third country. So, therefore, there needs to be some sort of agreement between the EU and the UK as to what they will accept as acceptable regulation. Until they come to an agreement there, there is a third country, there are different regulations, and they need to come to an agreement on that. And basically, passport back in as they would have done in the past. At the moment, they can’t do that. There are buyers, trade buyers to do that, quite simply.

What patterns about Brexit and Northern Ireland property insurance have we noticed so far

What we’re getting at the moment is that there’s a lot of people who go back and forth over the border. So they live in Donegal and work in Derry and vice versa.

So a lot of those customers, for example, would be- they’ll be from let’s say the Derry area because that’s the big one. That’s where I’m from. That’s where all the commuting back and forth goes from so- people live in Donegal and Derry, so you’d maybe have a customer living in Donegal, who has a property in Derry rented out. So you got that landlording going on, so to speak.

So the issue that we’ve seen on a micro-scale is customers actually ringing us and this has actually been quite common- customers are ringing us, saying that their current insurer in the North will not insure their properties because they are not resident in the Republic. So, that’s causing issues. But they come to us, have asked us like, ‘can you do this?’ ‘Yeah, we can- we can do it’. And I think it’s really down to personal choice and certain insurers. They may be thinking there’s gonna be issues going forward. But from our perspective, we’ve had no issue.

We can simply put an address down, from down south and note that their risk or their property insured is in the north. It’s really caused no issues. If you go to an insurer and you say, look, this is- as a non-domiciled person, so to speak, ‘can this be done? More often than not, it’ll be a yes. But what you’ll find with the larger insurers is you’re speaking to an agent on the phone. They’re giving a very dogmatic response to the customers and you know, ‘we can’t do it anymore. So we’ve had quite a lot of customers being turned down by the larger brokers and we’ve taken on the risk, no problems. Maybe they know something we don’t. Whether it’s something further on down the line, but that’s where, on a micro-scale, I would say, that’s where we benefit personally.

Residential Landlord

Commercial Property

Why choose the Property Insurance Centre

Independent advice by approachable staff online or by phone

Access to a wide range of insurers to source suitable insurance cover for your needs

Bespoke Insurance Schemes & Portfolio Policies available

We can tailor your policy to suit your exact needs to give you complete peace of mind

Competitive Premiums

Cover available for the buildings while the property is being converted, renovated or extended

Over 40 years experience working with the best insurers in the UK

Excellent communication so that you understand what risks you are insured against

Why choose the Property Insurance Centre

Independent broker with staff you can speak to by phone or online

Access to a wide range of insurers to source suitable insurance cover for your needs

Bespoke Insurance Schemes & Portfolio Policies available

We can tailor your policy to suit your exact needs to give you complete peace of mind

Competitive Premiums

Cover available for the buildings while the property is being converted, renovated or extended

Over 40 years experience working with the best insurers in the UK

Excellent communication so that you understand what risks you are insured against

Why choose the Property Insurance Centre

Independent broker with staff you can speak to by phone or online

Access to a wide range of insurers to source suitable insurance cover for your needs

Bespoke Insurance Schemes & Portfolio Policies available

We can tailor your policy to suit your exact needs to give you complete peace of mind

Competitive Premiums

Cover available for the buildings while the property is being converted, renovated or extended

Over 40 years experience working with the best insurers in the UK

Excellent communication so that you understand what risks you are insured against

Specialists in Commercial & Residential Insurance

We have over 40 years experience as Residential and Commercial Insurance Brokers. We find the right policy to suit your needs and understand the risks that a property owner can face in the course of ownership. We work closely with our Insurers to get the best rates and our experience and excellent relationships with them mean that we can provide cover for even the most difficult to place risks.

Whether you have an adverse claims history, a high value property or a large portfolio of properties, we can source suitable cover for you. Whatever your requirements, we can tailor a specialist property insurance policy to suit your exact needs and provide you with a range of quotes to choose from. Established in 1976, we are not a call centre but a specialist insurance broker with a traditional office mentality, where the client comes first.

Looking for a quote now? Give us a call on 0800 085 3761 or complete one of our quote request forms.

We are also authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and you can view our registration here.

Get In Touch:

[contact-form-7 id="12585" title="New Callback"]

We accept most payment types including:

UK Call Handlers & Dedicated New Business Team

Call Us on 0800 085 3761

Contents