CRL warranty not accepted

taddo12

Midge2020 said:

@Burton - definitely try and get a firm quote for a retrospective policy for your property - go through earlier posts, collect names and get a quote. You’ve got to protect your asset. Whilst you certainly would loose money if you were forced to sell without a warranty, that sum will be far far more than the price of a new retrospective warranty. In tandem, put your solicitor on notice. This is a case of professional negligence. You’ve got to start quantifying the damage it’s done and the cost of making good the failed searches - and I’d include your own personal time in that figure.  You could consider using a professional negligence specialist or maybe Small Claims once you’ve got a robust quote and an overall figure.  Good luck!!

Thank you for all this great advice. If someone wanted to go down the route if their buyers' solicitors were in fact negligent what's the easiest way? Issue a complaint to the Law Society?

taddo12

JDP90 said:

Hi everyone,
I too find myself in the Alpha minefield – we live in an 25-flat apartment block so all of the other occupants are in the same position. Just wondering if many more people have been able to successfully take out their latent defect policies?

I spoke to a broker at PIB Insurance today and was told that "New Homes Warranty providers will be unable to provide a policy for individual apartments within a block" which makes sense, as any structural defect would obviously affect the whole block. 

We actually completed on our flat on 17 May 2018 – a week after Alpha went bankrupt – but by then all the checks would have been by the mortgage companies & solicitors. We've never heard from the FSCS, this has only come to light this due another resident having his remortgage application declined due to the lack of a valid latent defect policy.

Any advice on how we can rectify the situation hugely appreciated! We'd like to move at the moment, but will never be able to complete a sale with this hanging over the building. 

After some hard work we managed to get replacement cover sorted through Advantage Insurance who have been brilliant. They understand that a lot of people have been put in this situation and do a lot to help you complete the process and get the available information. It may seem like an impossible task but it's not, I'll try and outline the broad steps you need to take: 

 - Go on the FSCS website to make your claim for a refund, they'll direct you to an alpha portal where you just need to upload the certificate you originally received from Alpha. After a week or two chase up directly with FSCS. Don't expect a windfall. 
 - Get all of the contact details, email, phone etc of the 25 property owners, most likely they'll all want to get this sorted as much as you, and some of them will probably already be aware of this. If your block is managed by a management company they should have the details to hand if you explain why you need this. 
 - Email the other owners explaining the situation, you'll get a response sooner than you think as everyone will have an incentive to get this sorted ASAP.
 - Speak to an alternative company about replacement cover, there are loads but Advantage Insurance are my recommendation, DO NOT go through CRL. They put you in this position to begin with. Advantage should give you a lot of advice on what you need and how to get it. 
 - Get the contact details for the developer and/or architect who should be able to provide you with planning permission documents. You should also be able to find some docs on your local authority website. 
 - Once you've got a quote you can then allocate and arrange payment and then pretty much you're sorted. 

My flat sale fell through last year when they discovered I was covered by Alpha also, I put off sorting this out but after having now done so I realise it could have been done quickly enough before the buyers' pulled out. Don't give up! PM me if you want any help. 

tunza123

hi everyone,
I have read through a lot of the posts and have managed to learn a lot about this entire situation. However there is one area where I still remain unsure of and that is, who is responsible for paying for replacement insurance.
My situation:

• purchased a new build flat in feb 2018  (leaseholder) from a developer (who remain the freeholder)
• Received the refund from FSCS last year.
• Tried calling insurance brokers association to get quotes, who informed me that as a leaseholder I could not buy replacement insurance, but that it was up to the freeholder. I have seen odd posts that back this up. 
• I have had my solicitor write to the freeholder to ask them to purchase replacement cover without any luck, as they claim it is my responsibility
• One thing I cannot also wrap my head around is that I would need to get the permission from the other leaseholders in the building to get replacement insurance, however all the other leaseholders have structural defect insurance in place (because they moved in after me by which time Alpha insurance had gone bankrupt). Therefore why was I not consulted when this happened?

If anyone can shed any light on this all I would be greatly appreciative!

taddo12

tunza123 said:

hi everyone,
I have read through a lot of the posts and have managed to learn a lot about this entire situation. However there is one area where I still remain unsure of and that is, who is responsible for paying for replacement insurance.
My situation:

• purchased a new build flat in feb 2018  (leaseholder) from a developer (who remain the freeholder)
• Received the refund from FSCS last year.
• Tried calling insurance brokers association to get quotes, who informed me that as a leaseholder I could not buy replacement insurance, but that it was up to the freeholder. I have seen odd posts that back this up. 
• I have had my solicitor write to the freeholder to ask them to purchase replacement cover without any luck, as they claim it is my responsibility
• One thing I cannot also wrap my head around is that I would need to get the permission from the other leaseholders in the building to get replacement insurance, however all the other leaseholders have structural defect insurance in place (because they moved in after me by which time Alpha insurance had gone bankrupt). Therefore why was I not consulted when this happened?

If anyone can shed any light on this all I would be greatly appreciative!

Freeholders will be responsible for any Building's insurance but Latent (Structural) Defect Insurance will be for the leaseholders unfortunately. To your last point, I don't see how the other leaseholders would already have replacement insurance in place, unless they've already arranged for this together before you moved in after Alpha Insurance went bust? Typically this is only offered on the entire building; there are very few providers willing to give cover on an individual flat, and even then this isn't cost effective. 

Missdipika

Hey Everyone. 

So I'm in the process of selling my flat, and we are literally just about to exchange contracts, however my buyers solicitor has come back with one enquiry regarding the structural warranty.

CRL Alpha were my warranty providers when I bought the flat back in January 2018. They went bust around May 2018. I received a letter and premiums as they were never replaced. Now the buyers solicitor are asking if I replaced this as they would need to let the mortgage provider know. I'd never replaced this as at the time it wasn't clear to me what had happened, and I didn't know back then I'd be selling my property a couple years later and that this would be an issue. Now there's 5 flats in the building, for me to get us all to purchase a warranty in the space of a week would be impossible. So I've discovered another option being PCC (Professional Consultant Certificate) also known as Architects Certificate which I can get in place for my flat and not the whole building. Now from their list of approved lenders I can see Natwest is one of them, also looking on Natwests website it looks like they accept on a case by case basis. 

My worry is, that although they accept what is the case by case basis. So my question to you all, has anybody experienced this? Did everything go through ok if so? If not then what did you do? I'm so stressed and confused with this, as we were hoping to complete by the end of the month but now it doesn't look like it's going to happen. 

Any advice/feedback would be really appreciated. 

Thanks
Dipika 

Midge2020

Missdipika said:

Hey Everyone. 

So I'm in the process of selling my flat, and we are literally just about to exchange contracts, however my buyers solicitor has come back with one enquiry regarding the structural warranty.

CRL Alpha were my warranty providers when I bought the flat back in January 2018. They went bust around May 2018. I received a letter and premiums as they were never replaced. Now the buyers solicitor are asking if I replaced this as they would need to let the mortgage provider know. I'd never replaced this as at the time it wasn't clear to me what had happened, and I didn't know back then I'd be selling my property a couple years later and that this would be an issue. Now there's 5 flats in the building, for me to get us all to purchase a warranty in the space of a week would be impossible. So I've discovered another option being PCC (Professional Consultant Certificate) also known as Architects Certificate which I can get in place for my flat and not the whole building. Now from their list of approved lenders I can see Natwest is one of them, also looking on Natwests website it looks like they accept on a case by case basis. 

My worry is, that although they accept what is the case by case basis. So my question to you all, has anybody experienced this? Did everything go through ok if so? If not then what did you do? I'm so stressed and confused with this, as we were hoping to complete by the end of the month but now it doesn't look like it's going to happen. 

Any advice/feedback would be really appreciated. 

Thanks
Dipika 

Hi Dipika,
Sorry to read of your stress and the pain this horrid firm (CRL) continue to cause home owners. A couple of questions, how old is your flat? A structural defect warranty is expected on a property of 10 years or less (a few lenders might expect 12). Hindsight’s a wonderful thing, I think you probably realise that when you received the premium return you ought to have set about replacing the defunct policy with a new one as an asset of your home. Ho hum.   Just ask the buyers lender / solicitor if a professional certificate is acceptable? You could also offer further structural survey inspection at your expense to satisfy the lender? If the remaining coverage on the 10 year period is quite short, they might accept this.  Otherwise I’d just sit on the phone for a morning and run through the list of replacement policy providers on this thread and ask if they will cover a flat within an apartment block?  What have your neighbours done about this? Might be worth asking them too?  Best of luck and sorry for your stress!

Missdipika

Midge2020 said:

Missdipika said:

Hey Everyone. 

So I'm in the process of selling my flat, and we are literally just about to exchange contracts, however my buyers solicitor has come back with one enquiry regarding the structural warranty.

CRL Alpha were my warranty providers when I bought the flat back in January 2018. They went bust around May 2018. I received a letter and premiums as they were never replaced. Now the buyers solicitor are asking if I replaced this as they would need to let the mortgage provider know. I'd never replaced this as at the time it wasn't clear to me what had happened, and I didn't know back then I'd be selling my property a couple years later and that this would be an issue. Now there's 5 flats in the building, for me to get us all to purchase a warranty in the space of a week would be impossible. So I've discovered another option being PCC (Professional Consultant Certificate) also known as Architects Certificate which I can get in place for my flat and not the whole building. Now from their list of approved lenders I can see Natwest is one of them, also looking on Natwests website it looks like they accept on a case by case basis. 

My worry is, that although they accept what is the case by case basis. So my question to you all, has anybody experienced this? Did everything go through ok if so? If not then what did you do? I'm so stressed and confused with this, as we were hoping to complete by the end of the month but now it doesn't look like it's going to happen. 

Any advice/feedback would be really appreciated. 

Thanks
Dipika 

Hi Dipika,
Sorry to read of your stress and the pain this horrid firm (CRL) continue to cause home owners. A couple of questions, how old is your flat? A structural defect warranty is expected on a property of 10 years or less (a few lenders might expect 12). Hindsight’s a wonderful thing, I think you probably realise that when you received the premium return you ought to have set about replacing the defunct policy with a new one as an asset of your home. Ho hum.   Just ask the buyers lender / solicitor if a professional certificate is acceptable? You could also offer further structural survey inspection at your expense to satisfy the lender? If the remaining coverage on the 10 year period is quite short, they might accept this.  Otherwise I’d just sit on the phone for a morning and run through the list of replacement policy providers on this thread and ask if they will cover a flat within an apartment block?  What have your neighbours done about this? Might be worth asking them too?  Best of luck and sorry for your stress!

Hey,

thanks for getting back to me.

so my flat is 3 years old in January. There’s only 3 of us who live in our owned flats that I can get hold of (2 others) the other 2 are rented. There will be no urgency with one of them, however I know time to re-mortgage/sell may come up for a few people. Also everyones in breach of their mortgage without this warranty in place. I’m really not too sure what to do.

I have spoken to the lender - Santander, they said they accept PCC so I’m going to have to wait and see and then purchase it if it’s true. ABC+ also sell structural warranty just on the one flat which surprised me as most people say it’s hard to get? Do you know anybody who has managed to get a warranty on one flat?

it’s so stressful, I’m so heartbroken and praying that a miracle will happen. Our dream home is at risk ☹️

Midge2020

Missdipika said:

Midge2020 said:

Missdipika said:

Hey Everyone. 

So I'm in the process of selling my flat, and we are literally just about to exchange contracts, however my buyers solicitor has come back with one enquiry regarding the structural warranty.

CRL Alpha were my warranty providers when I bought the flat back in January 2018. They went bust around May 2018. I received a letter and premiums as they were never replaced. Now the buyers solicitor are asking if I replaced this as they would need to let the mortgage provider know. I'd never replaced this as at the time it wasn't clear to me what had happened, and I didn't know back then I'd be selling my property a couple years later and that this would be an issue. Now there's 5 flats in the building, for me to get us all to purchase a warranty in the space of a week would be impossible. So I've discovered another option being PCC (Professional Consultant Certificate) also known as Architects Certificate which I can get in place for my flat and not the whole building. Now from their list of approved lenders I can see Natwest is one of them, also looking on Natwests website it looks like they accept on a case by case basis. 

My worry is, that although they accept what is the case by case basis. So my question to you all, has anybody experienced this? Did everything go through ok if so? If not then what did you do? I'm so stressed and confused with this, as we were hoping to complete by the end of the month but now it doesn't look like it's going to happen. 

Any advice/feedback would be really appreciated. 

Thanks
Dipika 

Hi Dipika,
Sorry to read of your stress and the pain this horrid firm (CRL) continue to cause home owners. A couple of questions, how old is your flat? A structural defect warranty is expected on a property of 10 years or less (a few lenders might expect 12). Hindsight’s a wonderful thing, I think you probably realise that when you received the premium return you ought to have set about replacing the defunct policy with a new one as an asset of your home. Ho hum.   Just ask the buyers lender / solicitor if a professional certificate is acceptable? You could also offer further structural survey inspection at your expense to satisfy the lender? If the remaining coverage on the 10 year period is quite short, they might accept this.  Otherwise I’d just sit on the phone for a morning and run through the list of replacement policy providers on this thread and ask if they will cover a flat within an apartment block?  What have your neighbours done about this? Might be worth asking them too?  Best of luck and sorry for your stress!

Hey,

thanks for getting back to me.

so my flat is 3 years old in January. There’s only 3 of us who live in our owned flats that I can get hold of (2 others) the other 2 are rented. There will be no urgency with one of them, however I know time to re-mortgage/sell may come up for a few people. Also everyones in breach of their mortgage without this warranty in place. I’m really not too sure what to do.

I have spoken to the lender - Santander, they said they accept PCC so I’m going to have to wait and see and then purchase it if it’s true. ABC+ also sell structural warranty just on the one flat which surprised me as most people say it’s hard to get? Do you know anybody who has managed to get a warranty on one flat?

it’s so stressful, I’m so heartbroken and praying that a miracle will happen. Our dream home is at risk ☹️

We were in breach of our mortgage too for a while. My suggestion to you is to just quietly get a replacement policy in place for yourself ASAP. You can go onto the Council of Mortgage lenders site and find out which alternative warranties  would be accepted by them, I wouldn’t alert them to it....the point is when you entered into the mortgage agreement everything was fine. Firms do go bust, that’s life.  I can’t really comment on the likelihood of your house sale etc going through....but what I would say is if your lucky with ABC+ getting a replacement really might be a desk top exercise ...a lot can be achieved on the phone in half a day.  Do some investigations yourself ...contact the original developer, see if you can get hold of any Building Regs certificates or any inspection reports that were completed by CRL at the time...if you are v lucky some of this information might even be posted up on a local council planning portal under public access. Most structural defects actually arise within the first 24 months post build during which time the builder is often liable for undertaking fixes (the warranty at this point has limited value), it’s only after the 24 months that the warranty provider is expected to pick up the risk for the remaining duration ....so it’s often seen that they’re taking money for nothing as the risk after year 2 is much reduced. So, the point of saying this is to say that they a new provider might not be as concerned as you think about providing cover. Cladding of course is a major issue..?

Oscat101

Elite Insurance went bust as well. I am trying to purchase a house and first thing I asked for was warranty and it was Elite/Crl which is worthless.
I talked to Peacock insurance and LABC on phone and neither would consider replacing the policy due to worries about Crl's procedures.
I will try Build-Zone next, they do a thorough Survey, wait until any needed work is done, then issue the warranty for the rest of the time on original policy.
So I will suggest them to the seller, they seem to have approval from many of the main lenders and are Finance UK's list as well.

Oscat101

So many people must hold these policies without a clue that anything is wrong, many will sail past the 10 year period without ever knowing.