Shared ownership house insurance

Shippers73

I've been in a 2 bed shared ownership house since 2022 (value £210,000) and feel very upset by the Management company with excessive insurance charges. Its gone from approx £129.72 (2022) , up to £142.68 (2023) , £175.44 (2024), then £370.44 2025 to £720 in 2026. 2025 and 2026 they have send mid say deficit letters and stated they can under the terms of the contract. Negotiations would commence prior to a contract and unusual for changes mid contract. I can insure myself for around £140 per annum so I do think they are charging excessively and hiding behind contracts terms that aren't written. Lots of people on the estate are all being charged different amounts. This actual feels like we are being robbed, what can be done? Others have tried the complaints process and get nowhere as they just state they can do what they like under the contract terms.. Any help would be appreciated

marcia_

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6681043/shared-ownership-house-insurance

you need to read your contract and see whst the exact terms are. Nobody here has access to your contract

HampshireH

Like any home insurance you would expect size of property to influence price of insurance.

Most larger managing agents will have an overarching policy which is then split amongst the different houses but only you can see your contract

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6681043/shared-ownership-house-insurance

So you are a leaseholder, your lease will determine who is responsible for insuring the property.

You are comparing apples and oranges… the management company do not live at your address and so cannot buy home insurance on it. Instead as a commercial entity they will be buying commercial property insurance on the property that has very different pricing to home insurance.


As a leaseholder you have certain rights but the freeholder isnt obliged to buy the cheapest possible insurance but the price must be reasonable. You have routes to challenge the reasonableness but dont challenge it on the basis of the price of a product that they cant buy.

ResourcesShared

That does seem to be a large increase in insurance costs over a relatively short amount of time. You could try calling the Leasehold Advisory Service for advice on what is permitted under your lease, and how to establish whether the increase is reasonable. (Given your house is shared ownership, it will be leasehold assuming you haven't staircased to 100%).

The Leasehold Advisory Service also publish model letters for stating that you are paying "under protest". This might be helpful if you make a complaint or take other action down the line. Otherwise, if you have paid charges without formally raising concerns, this could be taken as acceptance of reasonableness. Though this is not legal advice. Please do seek expert advice as above. (If you call the Leasehold Advisory Service, please mention that Shared Ownership Resources suggested it).

https://www.lease-advice.org/template-letters/template-letter-paying-under-protest/

As a matter of interest, who is your housing association landlord, and who is your management company?

eddddy

Shippers73 said

 I can insure myself for around £140 per annum so I do think they are charging excessively

The law allows you to challenge unreasonable service charges - which includes the charge for insurance.

So I'm assuming your house is insured by a Housing Association under a portfolio block policy. So there might be 2 problems (or more)…

• 1) You have a 'low risk' house, but the block policy might include 'high risk' properties and/or vacant properties and/or properties with cladding issues. Meaning that your share of the insurance cost is high, effectively because you are subsidising the insurance on those other properties.

• 2) The block insurance market is not as competitive as the retail house insurance market. There is not so much emphasis on offering competitive premiums to attract customers.

There was Upper Tribunal Case in 2017: COS Services Ltd v. Nicholson : Reasonableness of Insurance Premiums Under Section 27A of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985

A law firm summarised part of the decision like this:

Further, whilst it is still open to a landlord with a large property portfolio to negotiate a block policy, that landlord must satisfy the Tribunal that doing so has not resulted in a substantially higher premium payable by the tenants without any commensurate compensating advantages.

link: https://tanfieldchambers.co.uk/cos-services-limited-v-nicholson-willans-2017-ukut-382-lc/

I read that as: "If it's significantly cheaper to insure each house individually, instead of insuring all the houses under a block policy, it's not reasonable for the Housing Association to use a block policy."

You can try highlighting that case to the Housing Association, but I suspect it might turn into a big fight!