Managing agents block insurance

Gettingtherequickly

Hi

Does anyone know if the managing agents for a block of flats are obliged to get quotes for insurance? Got an on-going issue at the moment and feel slightly uncomfortable about the fact that the managing agents are approved brokers for the insurance company. It may well be that it is the best cost, but I am naturally cynical!

InsideInsurance

In general principle no, it would come down to the freeholder(s) and your contract with them.

I am curious why an insurance broker is offering property maintenance services though. I am not sure if this could create a conflict of interests from an broker perspective but it'd be a punt

Quentin

If you are unhappy with the agents you may be able to get rid of them if you can get at least half of the leaseholders on your side.


Google right to manage

huckster

No they are not obliged to obtain quotes. Depends on who owns the freehold or what is noted in the leasehold agreements. I have heard that some leases state that the Insurance will be organised by x and that the leaseholder will pay 1/12th share or whatever. It is a bit unfair that uncompetitive premiums can occur, but when buying the flat, this is something you should be made aware of.

If the freehold is shared between all flatowners, that you should perhaps send a note to all the flatowners to see if anyone else is interested in this being looked into.

A relative of mine had this type of situation and all the flatowners got together at a local pub, where they had a meeting about all the issues they had with the management of the flats. The minutes of the meeting were then sent to the managing agents, asking them to address the points made. There was then a subsequent meeting which the agents attended, where actions were decided on. They could not change the Insurance underwriter because one of the flats had had a subsidence issue caused by a tree being planted too close.

Gettingtherequickly

InsideInsurance wrote: »

I am curious why an insurance broker is offering property maintenance services though. I am not sure if this could create a conflict of interests from an broker perspective but it'd be a punt

I did raise this at the time (when property was purchased, all flats arranged their own insurance, but when there was a change of managing agents, they dictated, without warning, that the flats could only be insured by a "reputable" insurance company!) as they got up my goat by apparent implication that one of the biggest insurance companies in the country was not reputable, however, they were very deaf to my conflict of interest question.

Thanks for all of your replies, will speak to the neighbours re self managing.

InsideInsurance

Gettingtherequickly wrote: »

they got up my goat by apparent implication that one of the biggest insurance companies in the country was not reputable

I think you will find most members of MSE think that all insurance companies arent reputable, not just the biggest ones :cool:

Quentin

InsideInsurance wrote: »

I think you will find most members of MSE think that all insurance companies arent reputable, not just the biggest ones :cool:

And brokers.

weejonnie

Quentin wrote: »

And brokers.

Although as an insurance broker I would point out that these types of agreements are currently under review in view of the extremely high commissions paid to the companies that take out these policies. There was a recent article on it in one of the Insurance press magazines.

Yet another case of market abuse.