Can letting agents enforce insurance purchase?

splatcake

Hey all,

I'm moving in with boyfriend in a couple of weeks, we're renting and have just been going through the contracts, in the contract it says they strongly advise that we buy insurance but then later in the contract we have to agree to everything on a separate document where it says we have to buy contents insurance and building insurance to cover up to £2500!

I've seen the strongly advise before for contents insurance, but I've never seen it enforced, which ok will be a bit more every month but you can understand that is the sensible thing to do - but building insurance?! since when has that been down to the tenant?

If anyone can offer any advice it would be greatly appreciated!

RAS

Take it out just before you move in and then cancel within the cancellation period. You need to check out the rules on cancellation before you sign.

moesasji

splatcake wrote: »

on a separate document where it says we have to buy contents insurance and building insurance to cover up to £2500!

This is in fact impossible as you don't own the property and hence would be unable to insure.

However forcing you to take any form of insurance is in fact considered an unfair term by the OFT. See the following document: http://www.oft.gov.uk/OFTwork/publications/publication-categories/guidance/unfair-terms-consumer/oft356 (see for example page 50 of the document)

G_M

You cannot be forced to take out insurance.

However, if the landlord/agent refuses to rent the property to you unless you take it out there's little you can do (initially) as you cannot do anything if they refuse to sign a tenancy agreement.

Legally, all insurance has a cooling off period (14 days). So buy the insurance, show it to the LL/agent, get the tenancy contract signed, then cancel the insurance and get a full refund.

Once you have a tenancy agreement, the LL/agent cannot take it away from you.

Nor can they later force you to take out the insurance again.

prudryden

Be wary of acquiring a contract by deception.

G_M

prudryden wrote: »

Be wary of acquiring a contract by deception.

As a piece of general life advice this is fine, but in the context of the OP's query.........?

The LL is trying to enforce an unfair contract term prior to the contract even being agreed.

The OP can both morally and legally purchase insurance and then change their mind - as can we all.

The LL cannot enforce the unfair term once the contract has been signed.

If, as I assume, you are suggesting the police might respond to a request from the LL to bring a criminal charge for fraud against the tenant on the grounds that they did not intend to keep the insurance (an intent which would be impossible to prove) then you clearly know something about the police (and CPS) that I do not.

prudryden

What an idiotic statement!!! Check out contract law before you mislead people with moronic legal statements. You have a weird sense of knowledge of what is legal and unfair. An unfair term is legal, enforceable and binding until a court overrules it or parliament deletes it. Your failure to understand your limitations is frightening.

Soniclord

splatcake wrote: »

Hey all,

I'm moving in with boyfriend in a couple of weeks, we're renting and have just been going through the contracts, in the contract it says they strongly advise that we buy insurance but then later in the contract we have to agree to everything on a separate document where it says we have to buy contents insurance and building insurance to cover up to £2500!

Hi,

This is where you need to use your head, our agency asked us to give them a copy of our home insurance certificate (which we didn't have) they asked before we moved in but didn't request to see anything on the day we went in and signed the tenancy agreement.

Once we'd moved in they sent us a letter with a quote to get insurance through them or to give them a copy of our insurance certificate, I E-Mailed them and politely told them they would NOT be getting a copy of anything as it would have personal information on it such as policy numbers etc, which I was unwilling to allow them to have due to a very slack error on their part to do with the data protection act where they accidentally gave me someone elses information!

And to be honest I wouldn't have given them a copy anyway, and I made them aware of such a thing, I said they could see it (I didn't have 1 they could see) but I wasn't willing for them to retain a copy for their records. I heard nothing back from them and they didn't chase it. Obviously just seeing something wasn't good enough for them. And the bottom line is they can't force you to buy insurance anyway.

prudryden wrote: »

What an idiotic statement!!! Check out contract law before you mislead people with moronic legal statements. You have a weird sense of knowledge of what is legal and unfair. An unfair term is legal, enforceable and binding until a court overrules it or parliament deletes it. Your failure to understand your limitations is frightening.

Actually yours is the idiotic statement!

You check contract law!! If I tell you (in a contract) you have to pay me £1000, let's say to make you breakfast! Then would you pay me £1000 just because contract law allegedly says you must pay me £1000 until the court overrules it and I have to pay you it back?

You know as well as I do that IF companies/estate agents etc went to court to try and enforce unenforceable terms the court would NEVER rule in favour of said unenforceable/unfair terms in contracts. Therefore you would keep your £1000 in your pocket then laugh at me when the court said you didn't have to pay me diddly-squat.

You are the one whose failure to understand the limitations of law is frightening! YOU are the type of person that would probably say you must do as I say and do everything I ask until a court overrules it just because YOU say so.... PATHETIC!

FireWyrm

You cant take out buildings insurance. You dont own the building and neither do you have any financial interest in it. Point this out the EA. You cannot physically comply with the requirement of the contract to supply buildings insurance and even if you could, why doesnt the LL have his own? We had the exact same problem with a damaged bath due to a pure accident. I thought (wrongly) that my own contents cover would suffice, but since baths are a fixture, they are part of the building and therefore, not insurable by anyone but the owner. You cannot insure what you dont own and the LA should know this. Get it all in writing up front.

prudryden

Soniclord wrote: »

Hi,

This is where you need to use your head, our agency asked us to give them a copy of our home insurance certificate (which we didn't have) they asked before we moved in but didn't request to see anything on the day we went in and signed the tenancy agreement.

Once we'd moved in they sent us a letter with a quote to get insurance through them or to give them a copy of our insurance certificate, I E-Mailed them and politely told them they would NOT be getting a copy of anything as it would have personal information on it such as policy numbers etc, which I was unwilling to allow them to have due to a very slack error on their part to do with the data protection act where they accidentally gave me someone elses information!

And to be honest I wouldn't have given them a copy anyway, and I made them aware of such a thing, I said they could see it (I didn't have 1 they could see) but I wasn't willing for them to retain a copy for their records. I heard nothing back from them and they didn't chase it. Obviously just seeing something wasn't good enough for them. And the bottom line is they can't force you to buy insurance anyway.



Actually yours is the idiotic statement!

You check contract law!! If I tell you (in a contract) you have to pay me £1000, let's say to make you breakfast! Then would you pay me £1000 just because contract law allegedly says you must pay me £1000 until the court overrules it and I have to pay you it back?

You know as well as I do that IF companies/estate agents etc went to court to try and enforce unenforceable terms the court would NEVER rule in favour of said unenforceable/unfair terms in contracts. Therefore you would keep your £1000 in your pocket then laugh at me when the court said you didn't have to pay me diddly-squat.

You are the one whose failure to understand the limitations of law is frightening! YOU are the type of person that would probably say you must do as I say and do everything I ask until a court overrules it just because YOU say so.... PATHETIC!

Yet again, another ignorant advisor on contracts. Check out Ground 17 for discretionary eviction. G-M was advising showing the LL an insurance certificate in order to get the LL to sign the contract. Had the OP not shown the contents insurance (forget the building insurance), the LL would not have agreed to the contract. Then he advised the tenant to knowingly cancel the insurance. That is deception and potentially falls under Ground 17 for eviction. I said to be wary, nothing more. I resent these settee lawyers who give ridiculous advice. He also assumed wrongly that I was referring calling in the police and something about criminal charges. That's pathetic!!!! Not exact but a little similar. Google this: Windsor and District Housing Association Ltd. v Hewitt
Court of Appeal
Longmore LJ, Aikens LJ and Elias LJ
19 May 2011

olly300

OP if the LA really annoys you get in touch with your local trading standards.

Oh and FireWyrm is right you cannot take out insurance for something you don't own or have an interest in. In the case of rented housing you can't have an interest in insuring the building it's the landlord's legal responsibility to maintain it. However landlords can take out insurance to cover the building and any of their contents in the property.