Terms of Business
Our status
Insure My Villa is a trading name of Insure My Villa Limited, which is an appointed representative of Vasek Insurance Services Limited, 4th Floor, 30- 34 Hounds Gate, Nottingham, NG1 7AB, United Kingdom. Vasek Insurance Services Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under Firm Reference Number 309354. Vasek Insurance Services’ permitted business is advising on and arranging insurance.
Our service
Our Service is to offer Insure My Villa products only, which are underwritten by Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s, except in respect of Rent Guarantee Insurance and Eviction of Squatters Cover where the product is underwritten by DAS Legal Expenses Insurance Company. You will not receive advice or recommendations from us. We will ask you certain questions to find out which of our policies best meets with your requirements. You will then need to make your own choice about how to proceed.
In the event of a claim arising where the policy is underwritten by Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s then we will handle the claim on behalf of the Underwriters.
Quotations
Quotations provided by us are guaranteed for a period of at least 30 days, this is subject to the information provided by you not changing. The premium quoted by us is the total amount payable and will include all insurance premiums, insurance taxes and any administration fees. Cover is always subject to receipt of a satisfactory Statement of Fact. If the Statement of Fact contains information not previously disclosed we may amend any terms or premiums or we may withdraw cover.
Duty of disclosure
You should remember that it is your responsibility to advise us of any changes to the information given in the statement of fact, which is attached to the schedule of cover. Failure to do so may result in your insurance becoming invalid and any claim being refused and not paid or being reduced and not paid in full. If you have any doubts at all regarding any of the information given you should ask us. Please also remember that it is your responsibility to provide us with up to date, correct and accurate information for the entire life of the insurance policy, especially so when any policy is due for renewal. You should retain a copy of all information you have supplied to us in relation to your insurance policy.
Payment and premiums
All insurance premiums must be paid at the time of requesting cover, unless we agree to allow a period of time for you to pay. If we do allow a period of time for you to pay then all payments must be made within this time frame or the insurance policy will be void.
It is your responsibility to pay any additional premium that may become due following an amendment to the policy. These payments must be made within 14 days of notification to you of the amount due. We will raise an invoice and send it to you when there is any additional premium to pay. Failure to pay any premium that is due within the agreed time limits will result in the insurance becoming void.
Renewal premiums must be received within 14 days of the renewal date to ensure continuous cover, unless we agree to allow a period of time for you to pay. Any renewal that is not paid within the agreed time frame will result in the policy being lapsed or cancelled.
These payment terms apply at all times, unless we agree different payment terms with you or have agreed to allow you more time in which to pay.
Client money
Client money is money of any currency that we receive and hold in the course of carrying on insurance mediation on behalf of our clients or which we treat as client money in accordance with the client money rules. Client money will only be held as agent on behalf of an Insurer or Underwriter in accordance with a written agency agreement. This means that premiums paid to us by you are treated as having been received by the Insurer or Underwriter at the time you pay us.
Cancellation rights You have the right to cancel a general insurance contract within 14 days of receiving the terms and conditions. Providing you have not made a claim we will refund the premium on a pro-rata basis less an administration fee of £15 (€15). We may cancel the insurance by giving you 7 days notice in writing to your last known postal address confirming that all cover has ceased. In this event we will refund your premium on a pro-rata basis. You may cancel the insurance by giving us 7 days notice in writing. In this event we will refund part of your premium less an administration charge of £20 (€20) as long as there have been no claims made or reported during the period of insurance.
Complaints procedure
Our aim is to always ensure that all aspects of your insurance are dealt with in a prompt, efficient and fair manner. At all times we will provide you with the highest level of service. If you have any questions or queries regarding your insurance or the handling of a claim or if you wish to make a complaint about us you should, in the first instance, contact Insure My Villa by writing to us at 4th Floor, 30-34 Hounds Gate, Nottingham, NG1 7AB, United Kingdom or by telephoning us on +44 (0) 115 950 5052. A copy of the company’s complaints procedure is available upon request.
If you remain dissatisfied you may be entitled to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). Their details will be provided to you at the appropriate stage of the complaint process. The complaint procedure is without prejudice to your right to take legal proceedings.
Compensation
Vasek Insurance, DAS and Lloyd’s Underwriters are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). You may be entitled to compensation from the scheme if we, DAS or a Lloyd’s Underwriter cannot meet our obligations. If you are entitled to compensation under the scheme, the level and extent of the compensation will depend on the nature of the contract. Further information about the scheme is available from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, 10th Floor, Beaufort House, 15 St.Botolph Street, London, EC3A 7QU, United Kingdom, Tel; +44 (0)800 678 1100, website; www.fscs.org.uk.
Claims
When you first insure with us you will be provided with full details of how to make a claim under any of our insurance policies. These details are contained within the relevant policy wording or on our website www.insuremyvilla.co.uk. When you first become aware of any incident that could give rise to a claim you should inform us immediately, you will then be asked to complete a claim form. Please remember that all incidents that could give rise to a claim must be notified to us by way of a claim form within 90 days of the date you first became aware of the incident. Claims can also be reported to us online at any time.
Renewals
We will issue renewal notices to you at least 21 days before the policy is due to expire. You are required to confirm your acceptance of the renewal by way of payment of the full annual premium as set out in the section “Payment of Premiums” above. Please remember that it is your responsibility to ensure that all information detailed in the renewal document is correct and that any errors or incorrect information is notified to us before your policy expires so we can issue you with a correct renewal notice.
Midterm adjustments
You can make amendments and changes to your insurance policy at any time upon receipt of full details from you. This can be done either verbally over the telephone, via email or letter or via the “Amend a current policy” section of our website. Any additional or return premium will be calculated on a pro-rata basis from the day the amendment or change takes place up until the expiry of the policy. If you wish to cancel your policy you can do so at any time by giving us seven days notice in writing. Full details of our cancellation process can be found in the above section “Cancellation rights” or in your policy wording.
Administration charges
We currently charge a flat administration fee of £15 (€15) per policy at inception and £15 (€15) at renewal in addition to the insurance premium. The administration fee will always be clearly shown on your documents and is always included in any quoted premiums. For some policy adjustments we may charge an administration fee of £10 (€10), again this will be clearly shown on your documents and will be included in any quoted premiums.
Credit Card payment charges
If you wish to pay any premium due by Credit Card then we will pass on the cost of the transaction made by the banking industry. At the present time the cost of these transactions is 3.00% (we reserve the right to change this cost if the charge to us increases or decreases).
We do not currently charge for payments made by Debit Card as the cost made by the banking industry is relatively small.
Policy documents
We will not retain or withhold your insurance policy documents, all insurance policies are issued in full to you. When we first incept cover we will issue you with an annual Schedule of Cover which provides details about the risk along with the relevant policy wording. All documents issued to you should be kept together in a safe place and read as one continuous document. If you amend your policy at any time we will issue you with a revised Schedule of Cover. This will be sent with an invoice should any additional premium be due, or a credit note and refund cheque if there is a return of premium due.
Telephone conversations
All telephone calls received or made by us may be recorded for monitoring and training purposes.
Third Party Rights
Unless otherwise agreed in writing, no term of this agreement is enforceable under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999. Activities undertaken by us under this agreement are provided for your sole use and you shall not be entitled to permit third party access to this information without our express written permission.
Termination
You or we may terminate our authority to act on your behalf at any time without notice period or penalty. Notice of termination must be given in writing and will be without prejudice to the completion of any transactions already initiated. Any business currently in progress will be completed unless we receive your instructions to the contrary. Any fees outstanding at the date of termination will be due within four weeks of the termination date.
Security
We do not guarantee the solvency of any Insurer we place business with. A liability for the premium, whether in full or pro rata, may arise under policies where a participating insurer becomes insolvent. In the event that an insurer becomes insolvent or delays making a claims settlement we do not accept liability for any unpaid amounts.
Governing law
This terms of business shall be governed by and construed in accordance with, the Laws of England and Wales and the parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
Confidentiality
All personal information held by us in relation to you will be treated with the utmost confidence and where appropriate, in accordance with data protection legislation, including the Data Protection Act 1998. You confirm that we may use and disclose information that we have about you in the normal course of arranging and administering your insurance and operating our business.
Your information may be passed to other companies within the group who may wish to contact you in the future. Please contact us if you do not wish this to occur. Other than as stated we will not release information about you to anybody else or to any other company unless we are legally obliged to do so.
