Insurance discrimination - how do they get away with it? (Buyers Guide: Household Insurance)

Name: nikkisly

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Product:	Buyers Guide: Household Insurance
Date:	03/09/00 (325 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Insurance is a necessary evil

Disadvantages: Blatant discrimination

Have you ever read the property for rent section in your local newspaper and seen the words "No DSS","No students" or something similar? How Hyacinth Bucket can you get? What right have landlords to say that they don't want "these people" renting their homes? Well, that's exactly what I used to think,before I started renting out a house myself - now my adverts too say "No DSS"! So, I'm a terrible snob,then? No, quite the contrary - I have to state this because I cannot find an insurance company who will offer Buildings Insurance on my property if the tenants I choose are either students or unemployed. Actually, I'm exagerating slightly - I have found several companies willing to accept the risk, the only snag being that their monthly premium was only marginally less than the monthly rental. A few years ago, my best friend's husband was injured at work. Eventually, they got into financial troubles and their house was repossessed. No problem,I thought. My house was standing empty,my friend would be an ideal tenant.Wrong! The insurance company put me in the unenviable position of having to tell my best friend, her husband and her children that they couldn't live in my house. So, how many of you would have said forget the insurance and let them move in anyway? Which is exactly what another friend did - his house caught fire, was totally gutted and he wasn't insured.If my adverts said something like "No Irish", "No Blacks" or "No Gays", I would be up in court faster than you could say discrimination - and quite rightly too! And yet, I am forced to discriminate against various sectors of society in exactly the same way.I've been unemployed myself in the past - does that make me any more of a risk to insurers? I think not. I've written to my MP about this, without much luck.It is a disgraceful situation, and one which insurance companies should be made to explain - and
remedy.

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