Insurance Advice

imroberts

I have recently purchased an apartment and am awaiting completion.

1. I have been informed by the solicitor that the lease states buildings insurance must be through Eagle Star (now Zurich)

2. I have contacted Zurich on several occasions and have been told they do not offer buildings insurance for apartments

I need buildings insurance before my mortgage will release the funds, and before my solicitor can exchange contracts. Given 1 and 2 above, I am currently unable to proceed.

Any advice?

lynzpower

Looks like you are calling the wrong place- are you calling eagle star?

Ive just checked eaglestar.co.uk and on the front page its saying

Home insurance information

Information about our buildings
insurance and contents insurance to protect your home »

Cant see why they would advertise it if they dont sell it

imroberts

eaglestar.co.uk points you to zurichinsurance.co.uk because Zurich bought them a few years ago

lynzpower

well then isnt the issue that the contract is out of date ( ie hasnt taken account of the fact zurich IS eagle star etc, therefore your sol needs to go bac kto the leasor and tell them this (honestly they probably know , i cant see others not being in the same boat as you)

then the lessor adapts the lease to reflect this ( can be faxed to your sol) as an annexe.

Your sol should be dealing with this mate its what you pay them for!

cattie

Are the apartments managed by a managment company or the freeholder? Only in many cases with apartments where you pay a service charge, the insurance taken is a block one for all properties in the building & will be taken out by managing agents if applicable, or if no ma in place, the freeholder will arrange this.

Get your solicitor to find out & confirm who is responsible for taking out the insurance policy. If it is down to individual leaseholders, then try to find out from others in the block the details of their insurers address & phone number.

imroberts

It's a block of only four apartments, all individually owned with no management company service charges.

It is me who is responsible for taking out the insurance policy, and the lease states it must be through Eagle Star (who no longer exist!) and my solicitor has apparently been looking into this since the start of June, despite me ringing him and complaining on several occasions about the time he is taking over such matters.

Might be worth my while speaking to one of the other owners, I was trying to avoid this though as there are only two apartments occupied at the moment and they are both elderly residents, I didn't want to go knocking on their door asking for their insurance policies!!!

imroberts

Ok guys, I decided today that six weeks was long enough for my solicitor to find out who my insurance needs to be with. Nipped down to one of my (soon to be, if my solicitor ever gets his **** in gear) neighbours and was told that their solicitor chased this up for them and had a reply back from the builders within 2 days saying that the insurance can be with anyone.

Rather than feeding this back to my solicitor verbally, I contacted the builders myself and had confirmation two hours later. The builders also stated that they had heard nothing whatsoever from my solicitor.

1. This leads me to believe my solicitor is feeding me ****. Surely this is not acceptable practice?

2. Given my solicitor has a) wasted six weeks of my time, b) lied to me throughout that time, c) not actually done the job I am paying him to do, where does this leave me standing from a legal point of view? Am I able to apply for a refund or reduction of my legal fees? Am I able to demand proof that my solicitor has actually made any contact or attempt to contact? How do I know he IS actually chasing up the other things he claims to be?

Many thanks in advance

silvercar

Chances are there is some other problem in the chain. I can't believe your sellers wouldn't be on your case for a 6 week delay otherwise.

As far as the insurance thing goes, its sorted move on, little point in winding up your solicitor now. Let him complete the purchase for you.

imroberts

silvercar wrote:

Chances are there is some other problem in the chain. I can't believe your sellers wouldn't be on your case for a 6 week delay otherwise.

There is no chain. Property is empty at the moment, seller has already signed their contracts and has been waiting for me since the start of June! And they are on my case, no question about it!