As your building often represents your biggest investment it normally forms the biggest section of your insurance policy.  Consequently, in the event of a claim, the repair and reinstatement usually presents the main problems for your policy to resolve. This is applicable to castles and crofts alike.

There are however, a number of reasons why claims for castles differ from claims for other types of property.

When a claim occurs your Insurers will, in most circumstances, appoint a Loss Adjuster to ensure that the claim is settled in accordance with the policy conditions.  One of the first tasks the Loss Adjuster will be required to perform is to establish the adequacy of the sum insured.  Normally this involves the Adjuster measuring the property defined in the policy as Buildings and ensuring that the sum insured is sufficient to completely reinstate the property to the specification that existed prior to the loss occurring.

As castles are particularly complex buildings by today's construction standards it is often difficult to set an accurate sum insured.  There are a great deal of unknowns when valuing a castle for insurance purposes.  Therefore it is not uncommon to discover that underinsurance is present in insurance policies for castles.  In some cases the sum insured will be sufficient for the castle alone.  However, if the definition of the buildings within the policy includes for gates, boundary walls and fences, and this is usually the case, the reinstatement cost of the boundary walls, which are likely to be considerable on an estate, might not have been included.

In these circumstances underinsurance would be present.  It is important therefore when setting the sums to be insured that the definition of the buildings is closely examined and that the sum insured truly reflects what is covered.

Furthermore, it is important to realise that no matter how impregnable you feel that your castle is, it is essential that the sum insured represents the complete reinstatement of the building. 
Even although it is unlikely that a castle will be completely destroyed by a fire, for example, owing to its formidable construction the obvious temptation to only insure 80% of the total reinstatement must be resisted.  It should also be remembered that castles are not usually conveniently situated next door to Fire Stations and as a consequence small fires easily extinguishable in normal circumstances could spread causing extensive damage whilst waiting for the Fire Brigade to arrive.

Probably before the sum insured minefield has been crossed the first problem in dealing with a substantial claim involving a castle appears as the demolition contractor, usually instructed by the local Building Control Officer, arrives to make safe the remains of the building.  As the building is usually Listed the local planning department and Historic Scotland should approve any demolition.  The Loss Adjuster should also be satisfied that the extent of the demolition goes no further than the damaged areas.  In some cases there can be a wide range of opinion on the extent of the demolition between the various agencies involved.  By way of compromise disputed areas are given temporary support to allow close examination by both Building Control and Planning Officials.  The cost of this shoring can be expensive and the Planners very rarely accept any economic argument to allow demolition.  Indeed, shoring and temporary protection of wallheads etc., is usually required from the period after the building is stablised until reinstatement works commence. 
The cost can prove to be extremely expensive.