Freehold insurance by local authority

susanfly

I'm the leaseholder of a flat owned by the local authority. It's the top floor flat.

In September last year there was a leak in the roof and it damaged my bathroom. The people who manage the flats got the leak fixed (temporarily, it turned out) and sent me to their insurers who confirmed the flat was covered by accidental damage. The insurers paid for and arranged the repair work. I paid a £100 excess and I was pretty happy.

The exact same thing happened in the exact same place some time a couple of months ago. At both times the flat was sub-let, with the local authorities permission (in fact I pay a fee for the permission). This time the insurance company would not pay and pointed to a clause that said accidental damage cover does not apply "if the flat is tenanted".

The difference is the insurance company. Apparently the new insurer took over in April.

So I have a bathroom with badly damaged plasterwork and paintwork for the second time in less than a year because the council/company who manages freehold has let the roof get into a state of disrepair.

The estate managers couldn't answer my questions on the phone and asked me to put the facts in writing and email it to them. I did this two weeks ago and have heard nothing. I thought I would ask here how I should proceed in case I do something stupid that messes up what I should be doing.

Thanks if you have any insight into this situation.