Glad you've found our website and forum useful.

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Need Unlock's advice? Visit our self-help information site or contact our helpline

Need Unlocks advice? Visit our self-help information site or contact our helpline

Hi anon

Really sorry to hear about the problems that you've been having. It seems as though the problem has arisen as a result of purchasing the policy via a third party. Unfortunately, this is something that we've seen before. Our advice would always be to check the policy small print as soon as you receive it to ensure that what you've disclosed has been recorded. If in any doubt, then give the brokers a call.

If you are somebody with a conviction or living with somebody with a conviction, we would recommend that you avoid third party sites, i.e. comparison sites and contact the broker or insurer directly.

As Home Protect advertise on our site, I've taken the opportunity to look at the question they ask which is as follows:-

Do you have any unspent criminal convictions (other than motoring convictions) YES/NO

They also provide the following guidance

'Convictions considered to be spent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 do NOT need to be disclosed.

The way in which a conviction can become 'spent' under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 will depend upon the sentence received for the offence, and the rehabilitation period that applies to that offence sentence.

For more information please take a look at the Criminal Record Disclosure Calculator produced by UNLOCK.'


If you had contacted Home Protect when you purchased the insurance, it's likely that you would have become aware that your partner's conviction was spent and that you had no need to disclose it. At that point, you could have chosen to go elsewhere as you would have no need to use a specialist broker.

Many thanks for highlighting your experiences and I'm delighted to hear that your partner is now in the fortunate position of having a spent convicton.

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Need Unlock's advice? Visit our self-help information site or contact our helpline

Need Unlocks advice? Visit our self-help information site or contact our helpline

LV they don't want to know about any conviction more than 5 years old. I am with them now and I am pleased with my policy. They are also quite competitive on price. I would agree never put personal details into a search engine. They often sell that data onto 3 rd parties. I always ask the question "Before we get into a quote does your underwriter cover people with a criminal conviction" it often works. I avoided a few companies who had to say no, time to put the phone down. If they insist on gathering your details first again put the phone down.

What I usually do is use a price-comparison website to find who does the best deal, but then don't click on any links to the actual companies, just navigate yourself directly to the company's official website and do it all there. On the price-comparison website you can always add a fake name/email address/phone number to avoid spam/privacy issues. I do the same with airlines.

Hi anon,

Firstly I have to say, brilliant username, can't believe no one thought of that already! The perfect username for a site like this.

As regards your insurance problem, very sorry to hear about that. It makes me so angry when people who have NO legal right to ask about convictions, do so and scare you into providing old information you should never have to disclose.

Hopefully now you are aware that insurers have no right to ask about spent convictions, they can only ask about unspent ones. If in future an insurer asks about "convictions" or "any convictions", "all convictions"; etc. you/your partner can legally respond "no" if the conviction is spent.

Any company that is not exempt from the ROA and that refuses service/employment due to a spent conviction is breaking the law and you can consider legal action against them.

Hi

I thought I would share my experience of dealing with Home Protect who ironically advertise their insurance on this site. I took out insurance with them solely because they advertised they offer home insurance to those with criminal convictions as sometimes it can be difficult to obtain household insurance with previous convictions. My partner was convicted of GBH years ago and was sentenced to 4 years imprisonment. He served 2 years and on his release has been a law abiding citizen ever since. I took out the household insurance via a third party site who searched for the best deal for me and then directed me to Home Protect with the information I had provided, including details of my partners previous conviction. When I received the hard copy of the policy, the part which lists whether you have declared any criminal convictions does not list the information you have provided- for reasons of data protection. After years with them, I had reason to make a claim. On contacting them, I was put through to their insurance broker who asked me the relevant questions including about whether anyone in my household had any criminal convictions, of course I answered yes and gave them the details. They then checked with Home Protect that I had declared this information to them, when taking out the insurance policy. Home Protect answered that I hadn't, effectively making my insurance null and void. After debating this with the manager there, my argument was that I had declared this information, that obviously something had gone wrong between the third party website and theirs on the transference of this information and of course I had no means of checking the information on my insurance policy as it was left blank for data protection reasons. Whilst lodging a complaint with them, where I myself was made to feel like a criminal and intrusive questioning followed such as whether I could offer any mitigating circumstances to do with my partner's previous crime, in which I felt as if I myself was in a courtroom, being treated like a criminal, which led me to feel very anxious and depressed. I then happened to google the rehabilitation of offenders act 1974 and came across Unlock's wonderful website and discovered using their calculator that under the reforms of the rehabilitation of offenders act 2014, my partner's conviction was effectively spent, which meant that actually, I hadn't needed to even mention my partner's previous conviction at all! It's ironic that Home Protect and their underwriter seem to be unware of the changes to this legislation! So effectively they themselves are breaking the law. I subsequently cancelled my policy and changed to another insurance provider. I was flabbergasted to see that Home Protect advertise on this site, whilst being unaware of current legislation and after the harrowing experience they put me through. So please be aware of your rights under this amendment and also be cautious when entering details via a third party website and check the information transferred is correct when taking out any insurance-better safe than sorry! I would hate for you to have to go through what I and my partner had to go through!

Thanks both of your for your support! I am very grateful to Unlock for their information re the amendment to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and their calculator. The point being it is the amendment to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 in 2014 that was key to my partner's conviction now being spent and being aware of this amendment -as to whether you need to disclose a previous conviction or not.

My dealings with the insurance underwriter were most unfortunate and very distressing and they certainly were not aware of the 2014 amendment to legislation, and yes, I would certainly recommend that you do not apply for home insurance via a third party site.

Many thanks to Unlock though for the valuable support and information you supply-very much appreciated!

Hi everyone, I have found out only this morning that having a restraining order made against me means I cannot take out a home buildings or contents policy.  If anyone knows of an insurance company who would be prepared to allow me to take out a policy, or have useful experience of getting around this problem, I would be very grateful for any pointers, suggestions, guidance, etc.  Many thanks. 

Hi Star

Really sorry to hear of the difficulties you're having with home and contents insurance. It can be difficult to get this type of insurance with a high-street insurer if you have an unspent conviction. However, it's likely that you'll be able to secure a policy through a broker and I've attached Unlock's list of 'friendly' brokers - https://hub.unlock.org.uk/knowledgebase/list-insurance-brokers/.  

Good luck. Let us know if you have any success and which broker you used. 

Debs

Need Unlocks advice? Visit our self-help information site or contact our helpline

Thank you.  :-)