Think I can’t spell? Read on.

As the completion date for buying our new house approaches, I thought it might be a good idea to dip my toe into the murky waters of house insurance.

At present we have a ‘contents only’ policy, as the cottage is rented, but we’re going to need a ‘buildings only’ policy at the new address, as we’re not going to be moving in right away.

I explained this to the insurance operative and after what seemed like a lengthy interrogation he informed me that as the property had already been empty for some time, and would continue to be so into the short-term future, he could only offer me ‘FLEE’ cover.

What you might ask is that? Well, it stands for Fire, Lightening, Explosion and Earthquake. This being the case it would not be possible for an ‘off-the-peg’ quote and he would have to refer my case to a broker, who would contact an under-writer, who would ring me back.

The call came and in the preamble to the ‘bottom line’ he proceeded to tell me all the wonderful ‘extras’ that were included such as lost key and legal cover, non of which I had asked for. I quickly told him I didn’t want these, so he agreed to remove them.

Then came the quote. Even without the ‘twiddly bits’ he’d tried to sell me it would be £200.69! That is £15 more than we paid at Ravendale House for FULL building AND contents.

Realistically we would only be getting ‘fire’ cover, as I feel the explosion and lightening are unlikely to happen, and though there was an earthquake in the area some years ago, I doubt lightening will strike in the same place twice, if that’s not mixing my insurance cover metaphors!!

So, as things stand we’ve sent him away with a FLEE in his ear, whilst we think about it some more.