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Compton Group - Insurance

brucethefish
brucethefish Posts: 156 Forumite
First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
in House buying, renting & selling
Hi

I forgot to send in my insurance documents to Compton Group back in May.

I have since sent them after a reminder, but they are now asking for £60 as an admin fee - for an email and a letter(!)

Is there any way out of this? I have offered £20 for them to go away basically

Comments

  • Guest101
    Guest101 Posts: 15,764 Forumite
    brucethefish wrote: »
    Hi

    I forgot to send in my insurance documents to Compton Group back in May.

    I have since sent them after a reminder, but they are now asking for £60 as an admin fee - for an email and a letter(!)

    Is there any way out of this? I have offered £20 for them to go away basically
    How on earth do you expect people to read the terms and conditions from their locations?


    Perhaps you could quote what the clause is?


    I mean ultimately if you don't pay it, then they wont pay out on any claim and will cancel the policy. Which then means you have a cancelled insurance marker and you will not get insured again or at a much higher rate.
  • brucethefish
    brucethefish Posts: 156 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Sorry, this is Section 164 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 - they basically want me to go through their approved insurance company.

    That original post wasnt clear at all to be fair!
  • Guest101
    Guest101 Posts: 15,764 Forumite
    brucethefish wrote: »
    Sorry, this is Section 164 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 - they basically want me to go through their approved insurance company.

    That original post wasnt clear at all to be fair!
    Again, it's not. That is the legislation, but they are charging you according to a clause in your contract.
  • brucethefish
    brucethefish Posts: 156 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    They have already stated in an email that the contract does not include an amount payable for not insuring through them, but then went on to say £60 is non negotiable
  • Guest101
    Guest101 Posts: 15,764 Forumite
    brucethefish wrote: »
    They have already stated in an email that the contract does not include an amount payable for not insuring through them, but then went on to say £60 is non negotiable
    This is starting to be like pulling teeth.


    Does your lease say anything about admin fees for late documents / reminders?
  • System
    System Posts: 178,093 Community Admin
    Photogenic Name Dropper First Post
    brucethefish wrote: »
    They have already stated in an email that the contract does not include an amount payable for not insuring through them, but then went on to say £60 is non negotiable

    I just got my mortgage offer yesterday and spent a painful evening reading through all the paperwork. We have to pay a £10 fee if we choose to arrange insurance ourselves rather than through the building society's agency, but if we choose to do so then we're required to send evidence of our insurance through to the building society. There was a very clear admin charge applicable if we fail to send them the documents (can't remember exactly what now, but £60 sounds about right). I'd imagine that your T&Cs had something similar, so you've already agreed to it.
  • eddddy
    eddddy Posts: 16,436 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post Name Dropper
    I'll have a go at guessing what you're asking...
    You're the leaseholder of a property and Compton Group is the freeholder.

    There is a covenant in your lease which requires you to insure your property. Compton Group asked you to provide evidence that you have insurance.

    You didn't provide the evidence, so your freeholder sent you a reminder letter and email - and they are charging you an admin fee of £60 for these reminders.

    (Section 164 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 makes it clear that you must provide insurance details to your freeholder.)


    Assuming the above is correct...
    The law says that admin charges made by freeholders must be 'reasonable' - i.e. They must reflect the amount of work the freeholder had to do.

    As an indicator, the Upper Tribunal Lands Chamber ruled in 2012 that £40 was a reasonable fee for a freeholder to charge for issuing a 'consent to let'.
    ( See: http://landschamber.decisions.tribunals.gov.uk//Aspx/view.aspx?id=823 and download the the document).

    I guess sending you a reminder letter and email is a similar amount of work to issuing a 'consent to let' letter. So maybe £40 is reasonable.

    If your freeholder doesn't accept your reduced offer, the standard advice is to pay the full amount - making it clear that it is under protest - then go to the tribunal to challenge it.

    It's up to you whether you think it's worth it for this kind of amount.
  • brucethefish
    brucethefish Posts: 156 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Hi

    That is indeed correct, many thanks for taking the time to decipher and rewrite!

    I will email them a link to that summary. Im more annoyed with myself to be honest, but at the same feel like they are making up the charges as they go long
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