Is a £600 buildings insurance charge excessive for a 2 bedroom 1930s flat in outer London. 5 July 2022 at 2:13PM edited 5 July 2022 at 2:36PM in Insurance & life assurance 23 replies 241 views

Sandtree

The charges only have to be reasonable/cannot be unreasonable, which doesn't mean that they have to go with the cheapest option. If quotes for the block on a per unit basis range from £450 to £1,200 then it may well be perfectly reasonable to accept the quote for £650.

Our insurance is arranged via Towergate which personally wouldn't be my first choice (though the insurer is fine) and another broker could be 5% cheaper but it may be totally reasonable that the agent uses the same broker for all the blocks they manage as long as the price is reasonable. 

Mabel2012

Sandtree said:

The charges only have to be reasonable/cannot be unreasonable, which doesn't mean that they have to go with the cheapest option. If quotes for the block on a per unit basis range from £450 to £1,200 then it may well be perfectly reasonable to accept the quote for £650. 

For years I arranged my own buildings insurance and still arrange my contents and motor insurance and never took the cheapest. In fact both are about the top of the range compared to a Compare the Market quote. I never claim so have full NCD.

I'm not going to think about insurance again until they send my the information I requested for the new quote or they send me the invoice.

I posted on here to get examples of what other people were paying and you were the only one who provided details. Thank you for that.

Sandtree

Mabel2012 said:
I posted on here to get examples of what other people were paying and you were the only one who provided details. Thank you for that.

The issue is comparing apples and oranges... my contents insurance is £500, you get lots of people on here with 2 bed flats who's content insurance is £150 or less, at the other end of the spectrum if I were to insurer with the likes of Hiscox my cover would be £900. There are a couple on here with rural properties and paying £1,500 and think its a bargain.

If you were to compare my premiums to the average here you'd say I'm paying far too much, if you compare it to Hiscox or some other members you'd be saying I am getting a great price. 

You need much more details to be able to compare if two quotes are comparable and like you, most leaseholders are not going to know the claims history, rebuild costs etc.