Is buildings insurance premium eligible for inclusion in Housing Benefit?

bkmla

The Council have cut my entitlement to Housing Benefit. I have yet to receive the reason for this, but I suspect that they have excluded the part of the service charge relating to buildings insurance premium that I pay my Housing Association

I am a shared owner with a Housing Association. I own 1/4 of a flat in an apartment building, the Association owns 3/4.

Under the terms and conditions of the occupancy agreement I am obligated to take out buildings association. If I do not I could be evicted.

The Association gives me the option of opting into their buildings insurance policy, the premium of which is included in the service charge that I pay, or taking out my own insurance policy. 

Therefore, in terms of continuing to occupy my home, buildings insurance is not an optional extra, it is compulsory.

I have chosen to opt-in to the Housing Association’s buildings insurance policy and pay a premium as part of my service charge.

I read on a website that a component of a service charge (in my case buildings insurance premium) should be included in eligible rent (for Housing Benefit) if the following criteria are met: you have to pay it to occupy your home, it is related to the provision of adequate accommodation, and the premium is not excessive.

What muddies the water in my case is that I am not compelled to pay the Housing Association a buildings insurance premium, as their policy is opt-in; however, if I did not opt-in I would be compelled to take out a policy with an insurer. But if I could not do so because I was not able to afford the premiums I could face eviction.

Also, the Housing Association’s Insurance policy may have a condition whereby if my property was rendered uninhabitable, the insurers would have to have to pay out to ensure that the provision of adequate accommodation is continued. If it transpires that the Council have disallowed the buildings insurance premium component of my service charge, I will check this out. The Housing Association has the policy document.

The long and short of it in my case is that buildings insurance is not an optional extra, it is essential to me remaining in my property.

 

 

 

marcia_

bkmla said:

The Council have cut my entitlement to Housing Benefit. I have yet to receive the reason for this, but I suspect that they have excluded the part of the service charge relating to buildings insurance premium that I pay my Housing Association

I am a shared owner with a Housing Association. I own 1/4 of a flat in an apartment building, the Association owns 3/4.

Under the terms and conditions of the occupancy agreement I am obligated to take out buildings association. If I do not I could be evicted.

The Association gives me the option of opting into their buildings insurance policy, the premium of which is included in the service charge that I pay, or taking out my own insurance policy. 

Therefore, in terms of continuing to occupy my home, buildings insurance is not an optional extra, it is compulsory.

I have chosen to opt-in to the Housing Association’s buildings insurance policy and pay a premium as part of my service charge.

I read on a website that a component of a service charge (in my case buildings insurance premium) should be included in eligible rent (for Housing Benefit) if the following criteria are met: you have to pay it to occupy your home, it is related to the provision of adequate accommodation, and the premium is not excessive.

What muddies the water in my case is that I am not compelled to pay the Housing Association a buildings insurance premium, as their policy is opt-in; however, if I did not opt-in I would be compelled to take out a policy with an insurer. And if I did not do so I could face eviction.

Also, the Housing Association’s Insurance policy may have a condition whereby if my property was rendered uninhabitable, the insurers would have to have to pay out to ensure that the provision of adequate accommodation is continued. If it transpires that the Council have disallowed the buildings insurance premium component of my service charge, I will check this out. The Housing Association has the policy document.

The long and short of it in my case is that buildings insurance is not an optional extra, it is essential to me remaining in my property.

 

 

 

Highly unlikely that housing benefit would cover insurance.it helps pay rent and bills and service charges are deducted. 

housebuyer143

Building insurance is required for all homeowners, it's just you chose to take yours included in your service charge. HB are not going to pay that as it's not rent or service charge, it's insurance. 
It's no different to you taking it out elsewhere and then trying to get HB to pay it - they don't and they won't.

HillStreetBlues

housebuyer143 said:

Building insurance is required for all homeowners, it's just you chose to take yours included in your service charge. HB are not going to pay that as it's not rent or service charge, it's insurance. 
It's no different to you taking it out elsewhere and then trying to get HB to pay it - they don't and they won't.

That is simply untrue,  it isn't compulsory

Renters don't pay building insurance.
The OP is a quarter owner but  three quarters renter.

As it compulsory I would be looking to challenger the LA.

devon_guy

Buildings insurance is compulsory in flats and is a communal policy that is part of the service charge.  There's no way the freeholder would let you opt out and organise your own, buildings insurance doesn't work like that.  I'm wondering if you're getting confused with contents insurance which isn't compulsory and housing benefit wouldn't cover that.

bkmla

I would emphasise a point made in my post regarding whether buildings insurance is compulsory or not compulsory.

It is not compulsory in the sense that I am not compelled to make a payment for buildings insurance to the Housing Association through my service charge.

However, if I do not choose to opt-in to the Housing Association’s insurance scheme, it is compulsory that I take out buildings insurance on my own.

If I do neither, I would be in breach of the occupancy agreement which states that buildings insurance must be taken out. The result of this is that I could be evicted.

bkmla

On further consideration, I have developed the following argument:

The question of whether a buildings insurance premium should be deemed an eligible charge is not straight forward, as this charge is not specifically stated to be either eligible or ineligible.

Therefore, broadly speaking, it comes down to interpretation.

In terms of whether building insurance should be deemed in my context to be an eligible charge, consider this rationale:

In principle, a part of a service charge may be included as part of eligible rent if the following criteria are met:

1.       It has to be paid in order for the claimant to occupy their home.

2.       It is related to the provision of adequate accommodation.

3.       The council accepts that the charge is not excessive.

With regard to point one: although in my case the insurance premium is an opt-in part of the service charge, failure to do so would place an obligation on me to take out, independently, buildings insurance. If, however, I could not afford to do so I would be in breach of my occupancy agreement, which states that buildings insurance must be taken out. An inability to comply with this term/condition could ultimately lead to eviction.

Charges relating to the following are deemed to be ineligible for inclusion in the Housing Benefit scheme:

1.       Fuel and water charges (unless they relate to a communal area)

2.       Personal laundry (but not a service charge for the use of laundry facilities)

3.       Cleaning of rooms and windows (other than communal areas) unless neither the claimant or any member of   your household can do it

4.       Transport

5.       Meals or groceries

6.       Television rental and license fee

It should be noted that buildings insurance, in my case, should not fall into the category above, as failure to meet the expenses above would not lead to breach of my occupancy agreement and, ultimately, to eviction.

Therefore, buildings insurance is essential to the provision of adequate accommodation. [I intend to check out policy benefits to see whether in the case of the property being uninhabitable, finance for alternative accommodation is provided.] Furthermore, under the opt-in buildings insurance scheme administered by the Housing Association, the estimated weekly premium is £? [I intend to check out premium], which I presume would not be considered excessive by the Council.

funny_bones

If you haven’t done already, send a letter to the council requesting a statement of reasons on why your housing benefit has been reduced. This gives you extra time to ask for a reconsideration. 

bkmla said:

I would emphasise a point made in my post regarding whether buildings insurance is compulsory or not compulsory.

It is not compulsory in the sense that I am not compelled to make a payment for buildings insurance to the Housing Association through my service charge.

If the reason is due to the buildings insurance, I think the council are taking the above stand. It isn’t compulsory for you to opt into the HA’s insurance for your share of the property. However, make sure you ask them if they are disallowing the whole amount of the buildings insurance for the whole property or just your share. 

huckster

Insurance is an everyday bill like water, gas and electric. Never been included in any HB payments AFAIK. 

If you don't pay the Insurance amount, I suspect it is paid by the HA from the money they do receive from you in rent and service charges. Therefore you end up in arrears.

The HA must protect the asset in the interests of all parties.

bkmla

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this thread. 

I have read with interest all that you have written.

I have noticed that a view expressed by a few contributors is that buildings insurance is just another household bill - but so is rent, and this qualifies for Housing Benefit, because it is linked to 'provision of adequate accommodation'.

This principle can also be applied to buildings insurance, in terms of my circumstances.

Repairs, broadband and contents insurance are household bills. But if someone cannot afford to pay these they will not face eviction, whereas, in my circumstances, if I cannot afford to pay buildings insurance premiums I could be evicted for breaching my occupancy agreement. And this would deprive me of 'provision of adequate accommodation'.

marcia_

bkmla said:

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this thread. 

I have read with interest all that you have written.

I have noticed that a view expressed by a few contributors is that buildings insurance is just another household bill - but so is rent, and this qualifies for Housing Benefit, because it is linked to 'provision of adequate accommodation'.

This principle can also be applied to buildings insurance, in terms of my circumstances.

Repairs, electricity and contents insurance are household bills. But if someone cannot afford to pay these they will not face eviction, whereas, in my circumstances, if I cannot afford to pay buildings insurance premiums I could be evicted for breaching my occupancy agreement. And this would deprive me of 'provision of adequate accommodation'.

 You have obviously already made a decision So go ahead and apply and let us know how you get on