Definitions

In this Terms of Business Agreement “we”, “us” and “our” means RIAS, a trading name of Ageas Retail Limited, a wholly ownedsubsidiary of Ageas (UK) Limited and a sister company to Ageas Insurance Limited.

We are an intermediary; we work on your behalf to understand what you need from your insurance and to offer appropriate products and services. We work on behalf of insurers to incept, collect and refund premiums for your insurance policy. We will also handle mid-term adjustments and cancellations on behalf of your insurers. We are registered in England and Wales No. 1324965 and our registered address is Ageas House, Hampshire Corporate Park, Templars Way, Eastleigh, Hampshire SO53 3YA.

Who regulates us We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) and our registration number is 312468. You can check this by visiting the FCA's website www.fca.org.uk/register.

About our service

Our service includes arranging your insurance cover and helping you with on-going changes. You will be asked a series of questions so we understand what you need from your insurance, we will not provide advice or recommendations. Please ensure that the policy meets your needs.

About the products we offer

We only offer home insurance from a single insurer, RIAS Insurance Limited. Our optional additional products are provided by one insurer per product: Home Emergency and Excess Protection are underwritten by Inter Partner Assistance S.A. Legal Expenses is underwritten by AmTrust Europe Limited.

Information about you and changes to your circumstances

Please ensure that at all times, when requesting an insurance quotation or contacting us about your policy you have purchased from us, you take care to answer all questions honestly and to the best of your knowledge. If you don’t, your policy may be cancelled, treated as if it never existed or your claim rejected or not fully paid.

You must tell us about any changes which affect your insurance policy. In particular you must update us before you move address or if there are any changes to the item(s) to be insured. For other examples of changes you should tell us about, please see your policy document.

You should read and retain all the documents we have sent or may send you in the future. You should make sure the documents are accurate and contact us if the documents contain any errors. If you have any queries about your policy or do not understand it, please contact us and we’ll be happy to help you.

To help you manage any changes to your policy, any persons named on your policy, who we reasonably believe to be acting for you, will be dealt with if they call on your behalf in connection with your policy. However, if you wish to cancel your policy by calling us, we will only accept this instruction from you or someone authorised by you e.g. a solicitor or power of attorney.

How we will use your information

For details of how we collect, use and store your personal data - please see our privacy policy or contact our Data Protection Officer at Ageas House, Hampshire Corporate Park, Templars Way, Eastleigh, Hampshire SO53 3YA or thedpo@ageas.co.uk. You can also request a copy of our privacy notice by contacting us.

Fees & charges

We charge fees to cover the costs involved in setting up, servicing and cancelling a policy and it's important you understand them. See below to see the fees and charges which may apply to your policy.

The following are non-refundable and chargeable at the time of the transaction to which they relate. If multiple transactions are made, a combination of these charges will apply.

Set up fees
Policy Set Up fee The policy set up fee reflects the cost of providing a policy and applies to all policies at new business and renewal.	£20
Fees when making a change Any changes made to the policy can increase or decrease your insurance premium.*
You make changes to your policy via your online account at my.rias.co.uk	£0
You can make any changes to your policy via phone, email, post or Live Chat.	£20
If we need to make a change as a result of the wrong information being provided	£20
Cancellation fees
Administration fee for cancellation within 14 days of original purchase date or renewal acceptance date	£0
Cancellation fee after 14 days from original purchase date or renewal acceptance date	£35
Cancellation fee within the 30 days up to your renewal date	£0
Missed payment fees
Missed payment fee Applies to monthly payments only	£12.50

*If you pay by instalments, your current rate of interest will be applied to any fees, charges, or additional premium added to your repayment plan. The rate of interest will be confirmed when you arrange, amend or renew your insurance.

Cancellations

Cancellation before cover has started

• If your policy has not yet started, we’ll refund your full premium, plus Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) where applicable.  There is, however, a £20 policy set-up fee which is non-refundable.

Cancellation within the first 14 days

• You have a 14 day cooling off period where you will not be charged an administration fee for cancelling your policy. This starts from your purchase date or the date you receive your policy documents (if this is later). There is, however, a £20 policy set-up fee which is non-refundable.
• As long as you’ve not made a claim and nothing has happened which could lead to a claim, you will only have to pay for the number of days you were covered.
• If you’ve made a claim or something has happened which could lead to a claim, no refund will be paid. If you pay for your insurance on a monthly basis, we’ll also ask you to pay the remainder of the year’s premiums.
• If you have purchased optional cover, you will be entitled to a full refund during the cooling off period provided no claims have been made.

Cancellation after the first 14 days

• After the 14 day cooling off period, there is a cancellation fee of £35.
• After the 14 day cooling off period, as long as you’ve not made a claim and nothing has happened which could lead to a claim, you will only have to pay for the number of days you were covered, minus the £20 policy set-up fee which is non-refundable and the cancellation fee.
• If you’ve had a claim during the cover period, or something has happened which might lead you to make a claim, then you won’t receive any refund. If you pay for your insurance on a monthly basis, we’ll also ask you to pay the remainder of the year’s premiums.
• After the cooling off period no refund will be provided for any optional cover, except Legal Expenses cover or Home Emergency cover where providing no claim has been made you will only have to pay for the number of days you were covered.
• If you wish to cancel your policy from your renewal date no fees will apply. See steps on how to cancel your policy here, just scroll down to the 'cancellations' section.
• If there is an unpaid balance on your policy after it is cancelled, we may pass this to a debt collection company to recover on our behalf. If we are unable to collect the unpaid balance it may result in the issue of a County Court Judgment.

It’s important to be aware that your policy won’t be cancelled if you simply stop your monthly instalment plan – you also need to inform us.

We also have the right to cancel your policy at any time by giving you 7 days’ notice in writing.  We will tell you the reasons why we may do this, which include, but are not limited to, you not giving us information that we ask for, giving us incorrect information or withholding information when taking out your insurance.  If we cancel or void your policy because of fraud, your policy will be immediately cancelled or declared void from the start.  Please refer to your policy booklet for full details.

Receiving your documents

It’s easy to see your documents, make changes and renew online and it’s more environmentally friendly. So if you currently receive paper copies but would like to manage your policy online, speak to us in live chat or give us a call. If you need paper documents please contact us.

Mid-term adjustment premium

If you are entitled to a refund of your premium for any reason, we will only provide this where the amount due to you is greater than or equal to £10.00.

Client Money

We act as agent for the insurer for the collection and payment of your premiums. This means that premiums are treated as being received by the insurer when they are received by us. Any premium refund is treated as received by you when it is actually paid to you. We will not pay you the amount of any interest that we earn from investing your money before paying it to your insurer.

Quote Guarantee Period

When we have provided you with a quotation, it is only valid for a limited period of time and providing there are no changes made to the information provided, including the start date of the policy:

• By telephone or post: Your quote is valid for 60 days from the date we gave the quotation but not beyond the commencement date of the policy.

• Online: Your quote is only guaranteed while you are on our website. This is because rates can change throughout the day.

Renewal of your policy

Your renewal invitation will be sent to you before your renewal date and will show your new premium and clearly confirm whether you have chosen to auto renew or not. It remains your responsibility to ensure that your insurance is valid and in force.

Automatic renewal
If you have chosen to auto renew and you are happy with the price and cover provided, you do not need to do anything, your policy will renew and we will send your new insurance documents. You can stop the automatic renewal of your policy by logging in to your online account and changing your preference, by emailing us or calling us. If you make this choice your policy will not automatically renew and you will need to contact us to ensure you remain covered. If we are unable to automatically renew your policy, we will tell you what you need to do in your renewal invitation letter.

Non automatic renewal
If you have opted out of automatic renewal you will need to call us, or visit your online account to renew your policy.

Renewal pricing

We want to make renewing insurance easy for our customers so we don’t offer discounted prices to people who call us. We think it’s fairer and more convenient for our customers if we provide our final price from the outset. The price on your renewal invite will be the only price available from us, based on the cover you’ve chosen and information we hold about you.

Making a complaint

If we have not met your expectations and you would like to make a complaint, you can do so by contacting us directly. If you remain dis-satisfied you can contact the Financial Ombudsman Service. Full details on how to make a complaint about us or your insurer can be found in your policy documentation.

Financial Services Compensation Scheme

We are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) meaning you may be entitled to compensation from the scheme in the unlikely event that we cannot meet our obligations to you. Further information about the compensation scheme arrangements can be found in your policy documentation.

The Law and Language Applicable to this Agreement

The Terms of Business Agreement and the services which we provide under it, are subject to the law of England and Wales and subject to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales unless we agree otherwise.

All communications from us relating to your insurance policy will be in English.