Non Disclosure and what to tell your insurer
Key takeaways
- There are two main types of information initio needs to know: information about you and information about your property.
- Personal information can include your insurance history, previous claims, criminal convictions and bankruptcy.
- Property information can include having tenants in the house, living on a flood plain or operating a business from the home.
- You need to answer the questions in your insurance application truthfully and disclose anything that could affect initio’s decision to insure you or the terms you’re offered, even if you aren’t specifically asked about it.
- Information needs to be disclosed when you arrange the policy, with changes or new disclosures advised at renewal. Major changes should be advised when they happen.
- Leaving information out can have serious consequences. Depending on what was omitted, a policy could potentially be treated as though it never existed and a claim refused.
- Not every omission has the same outcome. For example, the article explains that an undisclosed flood risk could instead result in the applicable flood endorsement and excess being applied.
- If you’re unsure whether something needs to be disclosed, the article’s “golden rule” is: if in doubt, disclose.
What information is important to initio:
There are 2 main categories of information:
- Information relating to you, e.g. your insurance history, any claims made, any criminal convictions you have, if you have been bankrupt; and
- Information relating to your property e.g. if you have tenants in your house, if you live on a flood plain, any businesses that operate from the home.
What do you need to tell initio?
The policy application that you complete when you first take out insurance is used to collect the information that we need to know about you and your property. Insurance is a legal contract, and you must answer the questions truthfully.
Legally, you need to tell us about anything that could affect our decision to insure you or the terms and conditions you will be offered, even if we don’t specifically ask the question. For example, if a previous insurer had put terms on your policy, like a higher excess or not provided cover for burglary, we would want to know about this.
Why do you need to tell initio this information?
In order to properly assess the risk of insuring your property (and you), we want to know as much as possible. As you have knowledge of the property you are insuring, we rely on you to share this information with us.
When do you need to give initio this information?
You need to disclose all information to initio when you arrange the policy. Changes or new disclosures must be advised every time the policy is renewed. If there have been major changes you should advise these when they happen.
What happens if you leave out information?
The consequences can be serious. Legally, your policy can be treated as though it never existed and your insurer can refuse to consider your claim. For example, if you did not disclosure that you had previously had your insurance cancelled because you had lodged a fraudulent claim, your new insurer could cancel your policy from inception, refund any premiums paid and refuse your claim.
If you forgot to tell us that you live in a 100 year flood zone, we wouldn’t cancel your policy. We would act as if we knew about it when you first took out insurance. That would mean applying the applicable flood endorsement and excess. So while some omissions can be serious, others can be easily resolved.
The Golden Rule
If in doubt, disclose, disclose, disclose.
How do you advise a disclosure?
Our application forms will ask you a number of questions which may or may not cover the information you need to disclose. If not, please provide any further information under the question “Is there any further information likely to affect the acceptance of this insurance”. Answer “Yes” and enter the information not yet disclosed on the application within the field provided.
If you have a policy already in place and have new information to disclose, send an email to the team and our team will come back to you if they require any further detail or let you know if the information changes any terms/cover.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to tell initio something if you didn’t ask about it?
Yes. You need to tell initio about anything that could affect the decision to insure you or the terms and conditions you’re offered, even if you weren’t specifically asked about it.
Do I need to tell initio if another insurer put special terms on my insurance?
Yes. If a previous insurer applied terms such as a higher excess or didn’t provide cover for something like burglary, this needs to be disclosed.
What happens if I forget to disclose something?
It depends on the information that was left out. Some omissions can have serious consequences, including your policy being treated as though it never existed and a claim being refused. Other omissions may be resolved by applying the terms that would have applied if the information had been known from the beginning.
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