our Terms of Business

Granite Building Warranties Limited of 1st Floor, 5 Century Court, Tolpits Lane, Watford WD18 9PX, is an independent insurance broker. We are an Appointed Representative of Richdale Brokers and Financial Services Limited who are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). We are permitted to advise on and arrange non-investment insurance contracts. Our firm reference number is 815925. You can check this on the FCA’s Register by visiting the website www.fca.org.uk/register.

Our Insurance Services

We offer an advised service for a range of insurance products and related services. We have access to a number of building warranty insurers in the market place which represents the whole market. We act on your behalf and our services include; advising you what we consider to be ‘a suitable product’ for your building warranty insurance requirements, although it may not necessarily be ‘the most suitable’ product. We also provide ongoing assistance to help you with any changes you may have to make to any policy you may subsequently take out. A list of the providers whose policies we offer is available at the end of this document.

Arranging Cover

Upon receipt of your instructions, whether written or oral, we will conduct negotiations on your behalf with various providers, limited to those specified at the end of this document. We will conduct a market analysis, limited to those specified at the end of this document, taking into account premium, coverage, and insurer financial soundness before making our recommendations to you (we cannot guarantee the future financial soundness of any Provider or Insurance Company and our recommendations are based on the information to hand at the time). During the course of our negotiations, we will keep you informed of our progress and advise of any requirements we are unable to fulfil.

Cancellation Rights

You may have a statutory right to cancel this policy within 14 days of inception, by contacting us in writing at Granite Building Warranties Ltd, Cancellations Department, 1st Floor, 5 Century Court, Tolpits Lane, Watford, WD18 9PX or by phone on 01449 736868. Please refer to your policy summary or your policy document for further details. Insurers are also entitled to make an administrative charge. We may keep an amount that reflects the administrative costs of arranging and cancelling the policy. If you wish to cancel outside this period, you may not receive a pro rata refund of premium. We may also keep an amount that reflects the administrative costs of arranging and cancelling the policy.

Servicing

We will write to you with full details of our proposals, outlining the cover to be provided, the insurer accepting the risk and details of the premium to be charged. You will be advised when and how payments should be made and will be given details of any penalties that may be applied for late payment. Policy documentation will be issued to you as soon as possible once cover has been arranged and payment received.

Your Commitment

Consumers: You must take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation to the insurer. This means that all the answers you give and statements you make as part of your insurance application, including at renewal and when an amendment to your policy is required, should be honest and accurate. If you deliberately or carelessly misinform the insurers, this could mean that part of or all of a claim may not be paid.

Commercial customers:

If the insurance is arranged wholly or mainly for purposes related to your trade, business or profession you have a duty to disclose all material facts whether or not the insurer asks for specific information. This duty applies throughout the life of your policy, and when you renew your insurance. Material facts are any facts which may influence the insurer’s decision to accept the policy and/or what terms are applied. Failure to disclose a material fact may invalidate your insurance and could mean that your claim will not be paid.

You are required to settle premiums due in accordance with our payment terms. For clients with credit arrangements our normal terms are 30 days from date of invoice, any variations will have been agreed in writing. For all other clients, settlement is due by the date of inception of the policy. Failure to observe these terms may invalidate your cover. We accept payment by cheque, BACS or Credit/Debit Card. You may be able to spread your payments through insurer’s instalment schemes or credit schemes that we may arrange. Full details of the options available to you will be provided before cover is taken out.

To ensure full protection, you are required to notify us of any circumstance giving rise to a claim, which may give rise to a claim or a claim. You should familiarise yourself with the claims procedures and terms as detailed in the Policy Document.

Renumeration

Our remuneration will be either a fee, as agreed with you, and/or commission, which is calculated as a percentage (up to 25%) of the premium paid by you and given to us by the insurer with whom the insurance is placed. The basis upon which we are remunerated will be agreed with you prior to cover being arranged. Brokerage fees are earned for the policy period and we are entitled to retain such brokerage and fees in respect of policies placed by us for the full policy period. Any fee will be agreed with you first. Should we charge fees for other technical or administration services these will be disclosed to you in writing.

Protecting your Money

Before your premium is paid to the insurer, and for your protection, Richdale Brokers and Financial Services Ltd as our principle, will hold your money in a client bank account on trust for you. Your money will be protected at all times as per the Financial Conduct Authority rules. We also reserve the right to retain interest earned on this account which will be disclosed to you if it exceeds £20.

Protecting your Information

All personal information about you will be treated as private and confidential (even when you are no longer a customer), except where the disclosure is made at your request or with your consent in relation to administering your insurance or where we are required by law.

Some or all of the information you supply to us in connection with your insurance proposal may be passed to insurance and other companies for underwriting, claims and premium collection purposes. The information you have provided is subject to the Data Protection Policy and Privacy Notice of the firm, which is available upon request. You may request confirmation of the information we hold about you, to which we will respond within 30 days.  You consent to us or any company associated with us for processing your personal data in accordance with the Data Protection Policy and Privacy Notice of the firm. If you wish to obtain a copy of the firm’s Data Protection Policy and or Privacy Notice, please be in contact with Granite Building Warranties Ltd. We and/or the insurers and/or credit providers may use publicly available data from a variety of sources, including credit reference agencies and other external organisations to verify your identity or creditworthiness, to avoid fraud, and to obtain beneficial quotes and payment options on your behalf.  Each of the searches may appear on your credit report whether or not your application proceeds.

Technical and Administration Services

Granite Building Warranties Ltd, as part of post-sales customer relations, offer the following services to our clients. These services are available throughout the build period of your project and throughout the life of the purchased policy.

Technical or non-technical services and/or advice (upon acceptance of the relevant fee/s which we will confirm and agree will you beforehand in writing)

1. Coordination of Site Surveys: We offer to process the initial site survey schedule as well as assist in ongoing scheduling throughout the build period of your project.

2. Technical Advice: During the construction period of your project, when remediation is required to satisfy the appointed surveyor, we offer expert and impartial technical advice to you from our inhouse surveyor, the client, in order to help you resolve any construction issues or remediation conditions set out by the survey team acting on behalf of the insurance provider.

3. Technical Documentation: Throughout the build period, in order to satisfy the conditions set out by the provider of the insurance policy, we will assist with and organise the sourcing of any technical documentation required, including, but not limited to, insurance backed guarantees, slate certificates, electrical certificates gas certificates, EPC’s and building regulation key stage inspection reports.

4. Mediation and Conflict Resolution: If at any point throughout the build period and site survey process, you, the client, are unsatisfied or disagree with the remediation conditions set out by the site survey team acting on behalf of the insurance provider, we offer mediation and conflict resolution services between you and the survey team. We can offer technical and non-technical advice as well as mediate with the survey team on your behalf in order to resolve any conflicts of opinion relating to remediation conditions.

5. Technical Services: Throughout the build period, we are able to offer, organise or assist in the organisation of a wide range of technical and industry services to you, the client, in order to satisfy either initial conditions or remediation conditions set out by the insurance provider or site survey teams acting on behalf of the insurance provider.

Administration services (upon acceptance of the appropriate administration fee, which we will confirm and agree with you beforehand in writing):

1. Coordination of Building Warranty Sign-Off: At the end of the build period, we will coordinate all required certification by you, the client, as well as assist with the resolution of any issues relating to finalisation of the building warranty policy.

2. Life-of-policy Administration Services: Throughout the life of the purchased policy we offer administration services to you, the client, including, but not limited to, reissuance of certificates, change of contact details and transfer of ownership.

Please note that these post-sales customer relations services are only available for the purchased policy referred to in your quote letter and supporting letter of demands and needs. We do not supply these services in relation to projects for which you, the client, have not used Granite Building Warranties Ltd as your chosen building warranty broker.

Complaints

It is our intention to provide you with a high level of service at all times, but if you should wish to complain then we have a formal complaints procedure. In the first instance, you should write to The Compliance Officer, Granite Building Warranties Ltd, 1^st Floor, 5 Century Court, Tolpits Lane, Watford, WD18 9PX or call us on 01449 736868. You may be entitled to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Further information is available at www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk.

Compensation Arrangements

We are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. You may be entitled to compensation from the scheme if we or the insurer cannot meet our obligations. This depends on the type of business and the circumstances of the claim. Insurance advising and arranging is covered for 90% of the claim, without any upper limit. For compulsory classes of insurance, insurance advising and arranging is covered for 100% of the claim, without any upper limit. Further information about compensation scheme arrangements is available from the FSCS at www.fscs.org.uk.

Termination

Our services may be terminated without cause or penalty by either of us, giving one month’s notice to the other, or as agreed. In the event of your terminating our services, we will retain any brokerage/ fees paid to us. We have no obligation to perform any further services to you from the date of termination. Any claims reported after the date of termination will be the responsibility of the party taking over our role.

Governing Law

Our services and Terms of Business provided are governed and construed in accordance with English Law.

Insurers

This table is designed to provide you with an exclusive list of the insurers/providers we work with when arranging a policy on your behalf