Shared Ownership Insurance?

henrygregory

Hi there,
When I purchased my Shared Ownership property, I was advised that I must take out a contents only insurance policy. Fair enough, I did so. 
However, when renewing the other week, it got me wondering....
If I have a water leak or say a wall falls down... am I insured?
What about if someone puts a brick through my window? 
My insurance is contents only as I was advised to get, but as far as I understand, this covers the personal possessions in my property.
I pay a monthly service charge and part of that charge is for "3rd Party Building Insurance". The HA I am with are incredibly useless, I could ask them, but it would take weeks if not months to get an answer, which would be illiterate. I would get far more sense out of the good folk on here, hence my post. 
Can anyone give me any words of advice on how this works? Even though the property is shared ownership, I am 100% responsible for the upkeep of the property. If I accidentally damage a wall, or a window gets broken, I am quite sure, I would be expected to repair this. But I am struggling to see which insurance would cover me for such a thing. 
Thanks in advance   

eddddy

If the property is shared ownership, I guess you will have a lease, and the lease will explain what insurance the landlord (i.e. the HA) is required to arrange - it's probably buildings insurance.

Your landlord is required by law to give you details of the insurance within 21 days, if you request it. (If they don't provide details, they are committing an offence and can be fined up to £2,500.  See...

8.1 Insurance by the landlord
If a service charge consists of or includes an amount for insurance, you (or the secretary of a recognised tenants’ association, if this applies) can ask your landlord for a written summary of the policy or an opportunity to inspect and take copies of the policy.

The request must be made in writing and the landlord must provide the summary and allow you or the secretary to inspect and take copies of the policy within 21 days of receiving the request.

• If the request is for a written summary, the summary must show:

• the amount the property is insured for;

• the name of the insurer; and

• the risks covered by the policy.

Link: https://www.lease-advice.org/advice-guide/service-charges-other-issues/#25

henrygregory said:

If I have a water leak or say a wall falls down... am I insured?
What about if someone puts a brick through my window? 

The policy will specify what risks are covered...

• Damage caused to the building by escape of water (a leak) will probably be covered by the buildings insurance
• Damage caused to your contents by escape of water would have to be covered by your own contents policy
• Buildings insurance policies cover specific risks like:
• • fire, explosion, storms, floods, earthquakes
  • theft, attempted theft and vandalism
• • frozen and burst pipes
• • fallen trees, lampposts, aerials or satellite dishes
• • subsidence
• vehicle or aircraft collisions.

• So if a wall fell down because of an explosion, a vehicle collision, subsidence (or something else in the list of risks), it would be covered by insurance.

• If it fell down for another reason (for example, because you didn't maintain the wall properly, or it was badly built), it wouldn't be covered
• Accidental damage (e.g. a football through a window) may or may not be covered - check the policy. (But it probably isn't )

henrygregory

Thanks so much for your helpful post. That is really useful. I will get on the case and find out. 

It just suddenly occurred to me the other week when renewing my contence policy that some of those things I mentioned

in the OP are in a grey area in terms of who might cover them. I will do some digging.

Thanks again.