Leasehold insurance

penfold0610

A couple of years ago I received a letter from a company called Compton's, that they had taken over my ground rent. Payments didn't change and all seemed ok. I got a letter recently that stated another group called tapestart had now taken it over, no change to payments but now they state that there is a covenant in my leasehold agreement that says I need to take out buildings insurance with whoever they choose, currently Zurich.  Surely this isn't correct, and I feel they are fishing here to see who will take this up. I have got my leasehold agreement from 1973 and I cannot see anything that states this just that buildings insurance must be provided and approved by the lessor, and if needed produce in demand evidence of said insurance..... Can anyone advise??

eddddy

Assuming it's a leasehold house (rather than a flat)...

Some leases say that the leaseholder has to insure with the freeholder's nominated insurer. But if your lease doesn't say that, tell your freeholder that you think they've made an error, and ask them to tell you which clause in the lease they are referring to.

But even if your lease does actually say you have to use the freeholder's nominated insurer - Section 164 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 allows you to override the lease and choose a different insurer, as long as you follow all the rules specified in the act.

See: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2002/15/part/2/chapter/5/crossheading/insurance

penfold0610

Thanks for the reply. Yes it is a house.  The lease document is from 1973 and is worded in a very 'legal' manner so difficult to ascertain if the claim from Comptons is actually correct. interesting link to the legislation. I did write to my MP to see if the claims were correct and she didn't mention this piece of legislation.

Sandtree

As eddddy says, get them to refer you to the explicit clause they are referring to. Leases, even modern ones, are written in a terribly old fashioned way compared to most legal documents these days and no point torturing yourself trying to read the whole thing for this one point.

MPs win a popularity contest... beyond protocols there is no subsequent training to ensure they understand the current legislation or how in practice its applied.

davidmcn

penfold0610 said:

I did write to my MP to see if the claims were correct and she didn't mention this piece of legislation.

I really wouldn't recommend seeking legal advice from your MP.

Trout71

penfold0610 said:

A couple of years ago I received a letter from a company called Compton's, that they had taken over my ground rent. Payments didn't change and all seemed ok. I got a letter recently that stated another group called tapestart had now taken it over, no change to payments but now they state that there is a covenant in my leasehold agreement that says I need to take out buildings insurance with whoever they choose, currently Zurich.  Surely this isn't correct, and I feel they are fishing here to see who will take this up. I have got my leasehold agreement from 1973 and I cannot see anything that states this just that buildings insurance must be provided and approved by the lessor, and if needed produce in demand evidence of said insurance..... Can anyone advise??

Hi, I've recently received exactly the same letter ftom Comptons, after 35 years bring a leaseholder & never been asked to use Zurich insurance. I've argued this with them & they've stated just because they haven't asked in the past doesn't mean they can't do it now. Did you get anywhere with this, as in being able to continue using your own Insurance Provider??