Home Contents - would communal doors being left unlocked invalidate claim?

anewman

I live in a house split into 3 self-contained flats, as a tenant. My flat has its own door and has a secure lock. Another tenant, infuriatingly, thinks it's acceptable to leave communal doors unlocked - and have the audacity to be annoyed at me for locking them.

Policy documentation I have seen makes reference to "forcible and violent entry to, or exit from, your home". They would obviously have to make forceful entry to my flat, but if they're given free reign of the communal hallway, could an insurer argure that it wasn't "forcible and violent entry"?

I called the insurers to ask, but all I got was a sales person who didn't seem too sure about the answer.

Sandtree

As you are insuring the flat then its the flat's door that would need signs of forced entry etc... the communal area is irrelevant, many blocks of flats dont even have doors to the communial areas.

anewman

Sandtree said:

As you are insuring the flat then its the flat's door that would need signs of forced entry etc... the communal area is irrelevant, many blocks of flats dont even have doors to the communial areas.

The communal hallway is part of a house converted to flats. So the only thing between the outside world and my flat is plasterboard, floorboards, and carpet.

Sandtree

anewman said:

Sandtree said:

As you are insuring the flat then its the flat's door that would need signs of forced entry etc... the communal area is irrelevant, many blocks of flats dont even have doors to the communial areas.

The communal hallway is part of a house converted to flats. So the only thing between the outside world and my flat is plasterboard, floorboards, and carpet.

Thats just a sign of a cheaply done conversion but the front door to your flat is still the only door that the insurer will have asked about and not the one to the building.

Marvel1

I would continue to lock it, wouldn't surprise if insurer used it as an excuse to avoid payout.

user1977

Marvel1 said:

I would continue to lock it, wouldn't surprise if insurer used it as an excuse to avoid payout.

They couldn't validly avoid payout though. I've never encountered an insurer who showed any interest in the security of communal doors, and obviously you can't control what other residents do with the door.