Can I Sell a House With an Ongoing Insurance Claim?

Yes, you can sell a house with an ongoing insurance claim — there is no law stopping you, and people do it every week. What you cannot do is hide it. The claim has to be declared on the TA6 Property Information Form, the buyer's solicitor will ask about it, and the buyer's lender will almost certainly want the damage either repaired or ring-fenced before it releases funds. You have three workable routes: finish the claim and the repairs before you market, assign the benefit of the claim to your buyer, or sell the property as-is to a cash buyer who takes the whole problem on. Which one is right depends far more on your deadline than on the damage.

Why an open claim causes so much trouble

An unsettled insurance claim is a flashing light saying "there is damage here and nobody has finished dealing with it". Three separate parties react to that light, and they react differently.

The buyer worries about the unknown. Not the damage they can see — the damage they can't. A crack in a bay window is a crack; an open subsidence claim implies a cause that may still be active.

The buyer's surveyor is professionally obliged to flag it, and will often recommend a specialist report before the lender proceeds. That's an extra two to six weeks and a few hundred pounds, paid by the buyer, which is itself a reason for them to go and look at a different house instead.

The lender is the one that actually stops the sale. Mortgage lenders lend against the security of the building. An unrepaired defect with an unresolved claim attached is poor security. Depending on the lender, you'll see one of three responses: a flat decline, an offer with a retention (they hold back part of the advance until the work is signed off), or an offer conditional on seeing the completed claim paperwork.

The practical effect is that your buyer pool narrows sharply. Chain-free cash purchasers and experienced investors stay in the game. First-time buyers with a 90% mortgage and a nervous parent guaranteeing the deposit tend to disappear. That shrinkage is what costs you money — not the damage itself, but the loss of competition. Our guide on what your house is really worth is worth reading alongside this one, because your as-is figure and your repaired figure can be two very different numbers.

What you're legally required to tell people

This part is not optional and it is where sellers get themselves into genuine trouble.

The TA6 Property Information Form is completed by you, not your solicitor, and forms part of the contract pack. Its insurance section asks whether you have building insurance, whether you've had difficulty obtaining cover or had special terms imposed, and whether you have ever made a claim. There is no wriggle room in the wording and no exemption for claims that are still open. The form moved to its 6th edition on 30 March 2026, superseding the 4th and 5th editions, with expanded questions on flooding and building safety.

If you answer inaccurately or incompletely, the buyer has two remedies under the Misrepresentation Act 1967: refuse to complete before exchange, or sue for damages afterwards. "Afterwards" can mean a long time afterwards. Cases surface years later, typically when new cracking appears and the new owner's insurer starts asking why the property's claims history wasn't declared.

There's a second layer if you're using an estate agent. The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 require material information to be disclosed to buyers at the marketing stage — not held back until the contract pack. An open subsidence or flood claim is material information by any reasonable reading. Your agent has obligations here too, and a good one will tell you so unprompted.

Your three routes, side by side

My honest view: unless there's a real deadline, route one is worth the wait almost every time. The gap between 80% and 98% of value on a £280,000 house is around £50,000. Very few people have a problem that £50,000 doesn't solve.

Route one: finish the claim first

The cleanest outcome, and the one that gets you a normal buyer at a normal price. The sequence runs roughly like this.

1. Claim reported and loss adjuster appointed. For anything significant the insurer instructs a loss adjuster who investigates cause and scope. Straightforward escape-of-water claims can be settled in weeks; subsidence rarely is.
2. Monitoring period. On subsidence, insurers routinely monitor movement for six to twelve months before agreeing a repair strategy, because they need to know whether the movement is progressive or historic. This is the stage that frustrates sellers most, and there is no way to shortcut it. Vegetation removal and a further season of monitoring is a very common — and very slow — outcome.
3. Repairs carried out. Anything from crack stitching and repointing through to underpinning or resin injection.
4. Certificate of Structural Adequacy issued. This is the prize. A CSA, issued by a qualified structural engineer at the conclusion of a subsidence claim, confirms the work was done to standard and the building is structurally sound. Lenders want to see it. Buyers' solicitors ask for it. Without one, a history of subsidence hangs over the property indefinitely; with one, it becomes a documented, resolved event.

Keep everything. The claim reference, the loss adjuster's reports, the engineer's specification, the contractor's invoices, any guarantee or warranty on the works, and the CSA. Hand that bundle to your solicitor at the outset and it becomes a selling point rather than a problem. A documented, insurer-managed, engineer-certified repair is a stronger position than a house with hairline cracks and no explanation at all.

Route two: assigning the benefit of the claim

This is the one most sellers have never heard of, and it can be the smartest move on the board.

The principle is simple. The claim belongs to you as the policyholder. You sell the house at a price that reflects its damaged condition, and separately assign to the buyer the right to receive the settlement money. They complete the repairs using the insurer's funds, on their own schedule, to their own taste. You get out; they get a house they can put their stamp on, partly funded by your insurer.

Three conditions have to be met:

• Your insurer must consent in writing. They are not obliged to. Ask early — before you agree anything with a buyer — because a refusal after you've shaken hands is an ugly conversation. Some insurers handle this routinely; others will only settle with the original policyholder.
• The buyer's lender must accept it. If the buyer is borrowing, the lender needs to be comfortable that funds exist to make the property sound. Some will impose a retention until works are done.
• Your conveyancer must draft it properly. A deed of assignment, referenced in the contract, with the settlement figure agreed or the claim's scope clearly documented. Do not let anyone handle this with a side letter.

Where it works beautifully is a fire or escape-of-water claim on a property a buyer wants to refurbish anyway. Where it works badly is an unquantified subsidence claim still in monitoring, because nobody can say what the settlement will be, so nobody can price the deal.

Route three: sell as-is, to someone who doesn't need a lender

Sometimes the calendar makes the decision for you. Probate deadlines, mortgage arrears, a divorce settlement, an onward purchase you'll lose, or simply a property two hundred miles away that you cannot manage a twelve-month subsidence claim on from a distance.

A genuine cash buyer removes every obstacle above at once. No lender, so no retention and no declined application. No survey-driven renegotiation on the same scale, because they're buying the problem knowingly. Completion in 7 to 28 days, with legal fees frequently contributed.

• 75–85%genuine cash-buyer range
• 7–28 daystypical completion
• 16–24 weeksopen market, listing to keys
• ~1 in 4agreed sales that fall through

Two warnings, both from watching this go wrong. First, anything advertised above about 82% of market value deserves a hard look — in this sector, headline offers above that level are very often revised downward after the survey, and with an open claim you are handing them a ready-made excuse. Second, anything below 75% is a lowball and you should walk. Our page on how far below market value cash buyers go explains why those boundaries sit where they do.

The protection is comparison. One company making you a take-it-or-leave-it offer has no incentive to sharpen its pencil. Several companies, each knowing the others are in the room, behave differently. Get your offers side by side from our checked and vetted buyers before you commit to anyone.

A worked example

A three-bed semi in the Midlands. Repaired open-market value £280,000. Open subsidence claim, still in monitoring, insurer's provisional repair estimate £22,000 with a £1,000 policy excess.

The spread between the best and worst outcome here is £47,640. Divide that by the twelve or so extra months route one takes and you're effectively being paid around £4,000 a month to wait. If you can wait, wait. If a lender is about to start possession proceedings, or the estate needs distributing, or your health or your marriage won't survive another year of this, £221,000 in three weeks is not a bad outcome — it's the right one. Both answers are defensible. The mistake is choosing without doing the arithmetic.

How different claim types behave

Escape of water is the claim sellers panic about unnecessarily. A burst pipe, dried out, replastered, with a drying certificate and an invoice, is a non-event to most lenders. Subsidence is the one that genuinely changes your options, and it's the one to take seriously.

Mistakes I see sellers make

• Withdrawing or abandoning the claim to "tidy things up" before marketing. This is usually a mistake. You lose the insurer's money and you still have to declare the claim was made. You end up paying for the repairs yourself, or selling with the damage and a claims history.
• Not telling the agent. Your agent cannot price or position the property correctly without knowing, and the CPRs put obligations on them too. Telling them at week eight, after the third buyer pulls out, wastes everyone's time.
• Accepting a "subject to survey" cash offer with no proof of funds. Ask for a bank statement or a solicitor's letter confirming funds. A real buyer provides it without fuss. Hesitation here is the clearest warning sign in this industry.
• Using the buyer's recommended solicitor. Never. Particularly not on a transaction with an assignment or a contested claim in it. Instruct your own.
• Signing an exclusivity or option agreement. Tie-ins are how sellers get trapped while a company reduces its offer days before completion, knowing you can't go elsewhere. Read our jargon guide if the wording in front of you is unfamiliar.
• Underestimating the monitoring period. Sellers routinely assume a subsidence claim will take three months. Plan for twelve and be pleasantly surprised.

When your insurer is the thing holding up the sale

It happens more than people expect. A buyer is waiting, a lender wants the claim closed, and the insurer has gone quiet for six weeks. You have more leverage here than you think.

Start by putting the commercial reality in writing to the claims handler: you have a buyer, a completion target, and the delay is costing you a specific amount of money. Ask for a named handler, a written scope of works, and a target date. Vague pressure achieves nothing; a dated email asking three specific questions usually gets a response.

If it still stalls, use the insurer's formal complaints procedure. They have eight weeks to give you a final response. After that — or if you get a final response you disagree with — you can take it to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which is free to consumers and can award compensation for distress and inconvenience as well as directing the insurer to act. Unreasonable delay is one of the most common complaints the FOS upholds against home insurers.

Two practical points. Keep a dated log of every call and email from the day the claim opens — it's tedious and it wins arguments. And if you're unhappy with the loss adjuster's scope rather than the speed, you're entitled to commission your own structural engineer's report and put it to the insurer. A few hundred pounds spent on an independent opinion can change a repair specification worth tens of thousands.

Checking whoever you deal with

If you go down the quick-sale route, five minutes of checking is worth more than an hour of reviews:

• Companies House — find the registered entity, confirm it's active, check accounts aren't overdue and there's no strike-off proposal.
• NAPB — the National Association of Property Buyers is the trade body for genuine cash buyers, and membership requires registration with The Property Ombudsman. That gives you a free, independent complaints route if things go wrong. Both schemes are voluntary, so their absence tells you something.
• Proof of funds — in writing, dated, before you take the property off the market.
• The offer in writing — the figure, whether it is guaranteed, what fees apply, the timescale, and what happens if it is reduced.

The figures quoted throughout this guide are set out with sources on our industry data page, and if speed is what you're weighing up, our guide to selling fast and our explainer on how cash house buyers work cover the mechanics in more detail.

Ready Steady Sell was founded by Lisa Hayes after a decade of watching homeowners in difficult situations accept the first offer they were handed. A property with an open claim attracts exactly the kind of buyer who expects you not to shop around. Prove them wrong.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to tell the buyer about an ongoing insurance claim?

Yes. The TA6 Property Information Form asks directly about insurance claims and difficulties obtaining cover, and there is no exemption for claims that are still open. Failing to disclose exposes you to a claim under the Misrepresentation Act 1967 — the buyer can refuse to complete, or sue for damages years later.

Can I transfer an insurance claim to the buyer?

Sometimes. It requires your insurer's written consent, the buyer's lender's agreement if they're borrowing, and a properly drafted deed of assignment prepared by your conveyancer. Ask your insurer before you agree anything with a buyer, because they are under no obligation to say yes.

Will a mortgage lender lend on a house with an open claim?

Often not, and rarely without conditions. Expect one of three outcomes: a decline, an offer with a retention held back until works are signed off, or an offer conditional on sight of completed claim documentation. On subsidence in particular, most mainstream lenders want a Certificate of Structural Adequacy before they'll proceed.

How much less will I get selling with an unresolved claim?

Realistically, 75–85% of market value from a cash buyer, or somewhere in the 85–95% range if you assign the claim to an open-market buyer, against 95–100% if you settle and repair first. The gap on an average UK home is tens of thousands of pounds, which is why the wait is usually worth it when you have the option.

What is a Certificate of Structural Adequacy and do I need one?

It's a document issued by a qualified structural engineer at the end of a subsidence claim, confirming the repairs meet the required standard and the building is structurally sound. You don't legally need one to sell, but you effectively need one to sell at full value to a buyer with a mortgage. It is the single most valuable piece of paper in a subsidence file.

Should I just withdraw the claim so the sale is simpler?

Almost never. You'd forfeit the insurer's contribution to repairs, you'd still have to declare that a claim was made, and you'd be selling a damaged property without the funds to fix it. The only scenario where it makes sense is a very small claim where the excess is close to the repair cost and the paperwork is genuinely holding up an otherwise perfect sale.