Home insurance for potential future leak (EOW) damage - NOT buildings insurance

Helalex

Hi there, looking for some advice on a specific insurance for future potential leak/EOW damage/repair that is NOT covered under buildings insurance.  My property is leasehold and therefore has buildings insurance covered by the property owner, however, this only covers the external building and any damage as a result of the external.  I do have contents insurance and accidental insurance is included but this will only cover items that can be replaced, however, for example, if I have a leak that damages a ceiling/walls and I need to obviously fix the leak but then redecorate, is there a specific insurance that would cover this redecoration?  Thanks in advance!

DullGreyGuy

Have you checked the details of the Freeholder's policy? Would be very odd for EoW to be limited to external damage as EoW would rarely cause damage to the outside of a building.

Helalex

Thanks, EOW does appear on the Policy Summary for the Buildings Insurance but I don't have sight of the full details, so would need to request it, but good shout to dig a bit deeper, many thanks again :-)

eddddy

Helalex said:

Hi there, looking for some advice on a specific insurance for future potential leak/EOW damage/repair that is NOT covered under buildings insurance.  My property is leasehold and therefore has buildings insurance covered by the property owner, however, this only covers the external building and any damage as a result of the external.  I do have contents insurance and accidental insurance is included but this will only cover items that can be replaced, however, for example, if I have a leak that damages a ceiling/walls and I need to obviously fix the leak but then redecorate, is there a specific insurance that would cover this redecoration?  Thanks in advance!

I'm a bit late seeing this, but I wonder if you have misunderstood the freeholder's insurance obligations.

Is your property a flat or a house?

I'll assume it's a flat, but the principle will be the same for a house.



A typical lease might say

1. The freeholder is responsible for the structural/external walls, the roof, the foundations, the common areas, etc
2. You (the leaseholder) are responsible for plaster in your flat, internal walls in your flat, doors in your flat etc

And then a typical lease would say that the freeholder must take out a buildings insurance policy that covers all of the above - that's everything in bullet 1 and bullet 2.

So looking at a couple of example scenarios

Scenario 1

• Escape of water (or fire or explosion) only damages the plaster in your flat

• So you request that the freeholder makes a claim on the buildings insurance for the cost of repairing the damage in your flat

• You will (probably) be required to pay the excess for the claim

Scenario 2

• Escape of water (or fire or explosion) damages the plaster in your flat, the plaster in a neighbour's flat, the plaster in a communal area (and maybe the external walls).

• So the freeholder makes a single claim on the buildings insurance for the cost of repairing all the damage mentioned above

• You will (probably) be required to split the excess for the claim between you, the neighbour, the freeholder

But bear in mind that excesses for escape of water in flats can be very high. Often a minimum of £1000, maybe as much as £5000.