Buildings InsuranceBuildings Insurance Premium via Freeholder

keel

Can someone please advise me. The company who own the freehold of my 1 bed flat have sent me and my upstairs neighbour an invoice for Building Insurance for £800 each (That's £1600 for the one address!).

Is this normal?

courtjester

Sounds like your property must be gold plated unless its mansion sized in the west end of London ! Ask them to justify why the premium is so high and provide a copy of the insurance renewal quotation.

We have a 4 apartment /3 storey block in the west country, insurance for which costs around £750 for the whole property.

LisaT186

Does sound very high, ask for a copy of the insurance schedule showing premium.

keel

Thanks for your replies...
I know it sounds over the top. Have asked them for a written quotation/insurance schedule. It is on its way by post. If this is genuine, does anyone know if I can contest it, even though I have begun to make the payments (which i have been charged £80 for the luxury of paying by installments!!).

mattymoo

Does sound very high. Is there anything unusual about it like a thatched roof or has there been a large claim within the last 5 years? Is the area you live in known for arson problems?

The fact he is sending the schedule suggests the cost is £1600. If he were inflating the price he would be reluctant for you to see the schedule.

When you get hold of the copy make sure the premium is just covering your address. If he has a portfolio of properties and some are empty, he could be passing the cost of insuring those onto you. This is why you need to see a breakdown of the cost.

keel

The insurers are coming back to me in a week or so to investigate. They suggested the rebuild cost was £375,111 and this might be a factor. They say cannot guarantee a reduction, is this true? Surely if I can find a cheaper quote I can insist on it. In the meantime, I am going to get a quote from an independant brooker to compare.

GOP

Quite simply you are being ripped of by the Freeholder.

Who are they? Who is the insurer? Name and shame......

Based on the rebuild sum you supplied (which might of course be the insured sum which is usually higher) you would expect to pay sub £500 premium including IPT for a traditionally built property (bricks and mortar/tiled roof) divided into flats (converted or purpose built).

If the rebuild value is say 30% lower, then of course the premium should be 30% lower.

Your freehold owner is likely to be pocketing >£1000 of the premium back from the broker.

Get some alternative quotes for proper flats insurance and let your freeholder know the results and tell them you are going to go to a LVT to determine the reasonabless of the premiums. Also ask his broker to justify the premium directly asking for evidence of what they did to get alternative quotes. All things are useful at an LVT.

Read the https://www.lease-advice.org website - you can contact them for free of charge advice about this matter.

Don't let yourself get ripped off. Let us know how you get on.