Mr. Eoin Darby:

My mortgage offer was based on the fact that I would have insurance in place. The issue did come up because the bank, through my mortgage broker, reviewed the drawings. It is blatantly obvious that there is a thatched roof on the front of the property. Not only that, the rest of the property is a flat roof, which does not do any favours with regard to insurance either. It is a double whammy. The mortgage offer specifically stated that the insurance policy I received was not to have any exclusions for thatch. It was an actual requirement of the bank that I had to have insurance that covered the thatched element of the property. They did not give me any advice or direction on how to obtain that. It was just that I was not getting the final drawdown for the mortgage without this. It was up to me.