Expensive building insurance arranged by freeholder

eddddy

To be honest, based on what you say here, I think your expectations seem to be a bit unreasonable.

Susan1942 wrote: »

They have not proven that to our satisfaction.

The landlord isn't required to prove this kind of thing to your satisfaction.

If you disagree with your freeholder's rebuild cost valuation, you could arrange your own valuation.

Susan1942 wrote: »

What had happened it has also raised the excess. I have water ingress to my flat several times over the years from the roof. This resulted in internal damage to two rooms which required redecoration. The excess each time was £50.

If you have made a number of insurance claims for water leaks, that's likely to be a major reason why your premium is now so high.

Susan1942 wrote: »

Now that excess is £500 for water damage. It has an excess of £350 for all other claims.

An increased excess will have reduced the annual insurance premium. If you had a lower excess, you would have to pay even more for insurance.

(Also, given the multiple claims history, it may be that the insurance company refused to insure you, except with a high excess.)

Susan1942 wrote: »

Recently a friend had water escape from a washing machine from the flat above her. The two people concerned split the cost and it was £320 so obviously it didn't make any sense to claim on the property insurance. I fear there will be many more incidents like this.

If there are many more incidents, and hence many more claims, your insurance premium will go up even more - you might even become uninsurable.

(Insurance companies aren't charities. If you keep making claims, they will keep increasing your premiums to get their money back.)

Susan1942 wrote: »

So we are paying a much higher premium for the policy and other than a major incident we are going to have to have to pay for the repair ourselves.

To be honest, that sounds like a sensible approach. I would only make an insurance claim for a major incident, to avoid sky-rocketing premiums.

Susan1942 wrote: »

The Landlord can insure the building with anyone he chooses and we have no say whatsoever in the matter.

Yes - the landlord can choose the insurer (unless the lease says otherwise), but the amount paid for the premium must be 'reasonable'.

Susan1942

I am sorry but you fail to grasp that this is a complex is 42 apartments. There are 5 seperate linked buildings each having a seperate roof. This roof is not my roof I just happen to live on a top floor of this particular building. When I bought it was 9 years old years ago the roof was leaking all over the place. The original builder went bust.and when the men didn't get paid they vandalised the roof. It was common knowledge but I knew nothing of this until the first time water came in. Another company took over but they too went busy too. In total three different Builders completed the complex. The did a lot of patching up repairs but still I was plagued with water coming in. Master Bedroom in two areas Living Room in two places. Dining Room. Hall small bedroom Water running down the side of fuse box. To say I made multiple claims how could I not. They eventually put up scaffolding about 6 years ago and finally repaired the roof. I live in a conservation part of town so it's sash windows building in keeping with adjacent buildings It is built to look like old .Chimney pots were removed and sealed..
How would you like to live for over 15 years with that..So don't lecture me as though I have done something wrong. There was a major row between the insurance company who said they were not going to.pay Said that the landlord was negligent in failing to.repair the roof in a reasonable time frame. If took them in excess of 14 months to repair the final damage . This was not water coming in because of stormy weather. No it was just heavy rain.
In the end I deducted the cost of the decoration from my maintenance for a quarter. My Daughter who work as liability adjuster and has a law degree instructed me to do.so. She wrote to the Landlord and the Managing Agent on my behalf. Telling them to sort it out. I had no responsibility for the damaged roof.
In the end the insurance company did cover the cost. As soon as this was resolved I paid the outstanding charges.
This was away before the current Landlord and this management company took over. This is historical and it did not affect the insurance premium or the excess over all these years.
It is only in the past 3 years we have been hit by the huge increases since the Lease was sold and the high excess.

Susan1942

To say that I could become uninsurable is nonsense. Yes they could refuse to insure the Landlord who is the freeholder but these claims were beyond my control. My flat was damaged as a consequence of the Landlord and Managing Agent failing.to repair the roof properly..

The cost of the roof repairs were met from our sinking fund.

The only claim against the insurance was the water ingress to my flat..




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