Consumer Insurance Contracts Act 2019

Duties of consumer and insurer at renewal

14. (1) The duty of disclosure in section 8 shall not be taken to imply that a consumer who has on a previous occasion discharged that duty of disclosure is under an obligation at renewal of the contract of insurance to provide the insurer with any additional information, whether concerning matters that have changed or otherwise, unless the insurer has expressly required the consumer to do so in accordance with subsection (2).

(2) Where an insurer intends that the consumer is to provide additional information at renewal concerning a particular matter, it shall either—

(a) ask the consumer a specific question on paper or on another durable medium regarding the matter, or

(b) request the consumer on paper or on another durable medium to update information previously provided concerning that matter, which the insurer shall specifically describe and shall provide to the consumer a written copy of the matter previously disclosed.

(3) Where the insurer requests the consumer at renewal to provide information to the insurer, the insurer shall be under a duty to ask specific questions, on paper or on another durable medium, and shall not use general questions.

(4) The consumer shall be under a duty to respond honestly and with reasonable care, (which has the same meaning as in section 8 ), to any requests by the insurer at the renewal of the contract of insurance and, if the consumer does not provide any new information in response to the insurer’s request and where the consumer continues to pay the renewal premium, it shall be presumed that the information previously provided has not altered.

(5) The renewal by the insurer of the contract of insurance shall not, in itself, be taken to remedy any previous breach of any duty of disclosure arising under this Act.

(6) The insurer shall, within a reasonable time before renewal of a contract of insurance (and in any event no later than 20 working days before renewal), notify the consumer on paper or on another durable medium of any alteration to the terms and conditions of the policy, using plain intelligible language in doing so.