Radio 4: Flat leaseholders 'ripped off' over Building Insurance Premiums

[Lydia Thomas BBC]

Next Thursday 21st May, BBC Radio 4's consumer Programme; You and Yours is running a discussion regarding buildings insurance on blocks of flats. The buildings insurance is paid by the Managing Agent or the Freeholder of the land on which the flats are built. The cost is then passed on to individual owners in the form of the ‘service charge’. The service charge includes other sundry costs such as maintenance etc, so the proportion of the service charge relating to insurance is not transparent.

We are looking for landlords who have been affected by this. You may be aware that you have been paying too much buildings insurance because the amounts are not made clear to you by your Managing Agent or Freeholder.

Please get in contact with me on 0161 244 4238.

[landlordinsurance]

As a landlord insurance provider we often have landlords come to us to either get theoretical quotes on their property or where they have taken over the right to manage the property and are therefore insuring the property for the first time.

In every one of these cases, we are cheaper than what they have been paying. We are a broker and therefore have a panel of several insurers and it is usual that all of these insurers are cheaper. Not one or two, ALL of them. It is not just the fact it is cheaper, the usual saving is normally in excess of 50% of what they were paying.

If I was a landlord, I would not allow such high charges. I would always shop around each year and get theoretical quotes just to check that I am not being over charged. If I was then I would present my quotes to the freeholder or managing agent and insist that they use the cheaper quote.

We can expect an administration charge from them for the handling of the paperwork and time spent sorting it out but this should be minimal and clearly expressed in the "service charge".

We do not sell insurance via managing agents but regardless of this, whoever we sell the insurance to, we are regulated to provide the best quote available according to the requirements of the customer. Assuming insurance brokers who do deal with managing agents are acting appropriately within the rules set out by the FSA, it is not them adding inappropriate charges but the managing agents or freeholders themselves. Whether this is allowed is another matter.

I look forward to listening to the show on Thursday.

[RENTDIRECTUK.CO.UK]

To avoid such rip offs i advice leaseholders to form a right to manage compnay often referred to as a rtm co. That way you take over the management of the building including arranging your own insurance. That way you save a lot on insurance costs.