Ownership & Insurance
A conservatory almost always needs to be declared to your home insurer, because it changes your property's rebuild cost and structure — and not declaring it can affect a future claim.
Yes — you should tell your insurer before or as soon as work completes, because a conservatory changes your home's rebuild value and insurers assess risk based on an accurate description of the property.
Failing to declare a significant structural addition can affect how a future claim is handled, even one unrelated to the conservatory itself.
A conservatory can increase your premium slightly, because it increases the rebuild cost and adds glazed area, but the increase is usually modest for a standard single-storey build.
Larger, more elaborate builds — full orangeries with premium glazing — are more likely to move the premium noticeably than a standard lean-to or Edwardian conservatory.
Yes — insurers can ask for building warrant and completion certificate paperwork when assessing or paying a claim, particularly for structural damage.
This is another reason to keep the accepted completion certificate with your title deeds rather than treating it as paperwork you can discard once the room is finished.
A declared, correctly built conservatory is normally covered under standard buildings insurance in the same way as the rest of the house, subject to your policy's specific terms.
Confirm this directly with your insurer rather than assuming, since policy wording varies between providers.
A warm roof replacement should also be declared, because it is a structural change to an existing insured structure, even though the footprint of the room does not change.
