House sales falling through because insurance companies are refusing to provide cover

House buyers may be able to get a mortgage, but without house insurance the banks won’t release the funds, as Laurie O’Flynn reports

A NUMBER of house sales in Cork City have fallen through in recent times because insurance companies are refusing to provide cover to properties in areas with subsidence or with a history of flooding. What most house buyers don’t realise until they need to draw down their mortgage, is that the bank cannot release the money until house insurance is in place.

“Over the last 12 months we have had people in who had mortgage approval, but who could not get house insurance. The banks won’t release the money until that is in place, so the house sales fell through as a result,” says Billy Kenny of O’Mahony Boylan Golden Munster Ltd.