Here’s why insurance will be all change on Friday
Those with weighty insurance contracts might want to double check their paperwork this week, as a law change which shifts more responsibility onto the insured, rather than the insurer, is due to come into force.
The majority of the provisions of the Insurance Act 2015, which received Royal Assent back in February 2015, will become applicable from Friday.
Among the biggest changes is a new duty for those insured to make a "fair presentation" of risk to their insurance company, including disclosing "every material circumstance which the insured knows or ought to know".
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At present, potential policyholders need only show they have provided such information in the utmost good faith.
The Act also changes the way warranties are treated in non-consumer contracts. At the moment, if a warranty is breached, the insurer can void the contract entirely, regardless of how minor the actual breach is or whether it is corrected at a later date.
Under the new law, the contract will effectively be suspended for a minor breach and reinstated once the infringement is corrected.
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However, the legislation contains a provision which would allow those under a non-consumer contract to contract out of the new law, which means insurers could still word their contracts so the law is more in their favour.