Insurance - beneficial interest but not the legal owner (so to speak)

Grizebeck

If someone has a beneficial ownership in a property (of what ever %) up to 100% but their name is not on the title is there any issue with them obtaining buildings insurance rather then the one with the title deeds in their name
I would not have thought so as they have an insurable interest?

Smithcom

Grizebeck said:

If someone has a beneficial ownership in a property (of what ever %) up to 100% but their name is not on the title is there any issue with them obtaining buildings insurance rather then the one with the title deeds in their name
I would not have thought so as they have an insurable interest?

Be careful.  If the (whatever %) beneficial owner insures the property, and there is a loss, there is a strong likelihood that the insurer will calculate the policyholder's loss as being a percentage equivalent to their ownership.

The insurable interest would appear not to be for 100% of the property.

Depending on the type of insurance, appropriate disclosures may need to be made to the insurer

SC

DullGreyGuy

Grizebeck said:

If someone has a beneficial ownership in a property (of what ever %) up to 100% but their name is not on the title is there any issue with them obtaining buildings insurance rather then the one with the title deeds in their name
I would not have thought so as they have an insurable interest?

For non-life insurance you need to prove that you have an insurable interest at the point of claim (life insurance its only at the point of purchase). 

An insurable interest can stem from ownership, contractual obligations and other things. It therefore really will come down to what grounds they have an interest in the property from, what duty they owe to the co-owner if its less than 100% or if the co-owner is named on the policy etc.

In reality for the majority of claims in Home the interest in the property isnt generally questioned in Buildings insurance unless its an unorthodox situation like a flat in a large block where normally the freeholder would be buying insurance not the individual flat leaseholders but some leases do require the leaseholder to buy buildings and that creates the interest.