Quick Question about Buildings Insurance

Electric

Hi,

I'm just wondering about buildings insurance. We own a lease hold apartment in a building which contains two apartments and a business on the ground floor. Our landlord recently sent us an invoice for the renewal of the buildings insurance. However we have no idea if this is a good or bad deal and would like to shop around. We also don't have any of the details of the policy as this was not supplied with the renewal invoice.

We spoke to the other tenant who was in favour of it but thought that insurance companies are unlikely to deal with us as we are not the ultimate owners of the building.

I'm just wondering if anyone knows if insurance companies would supply quotes to us that we could pass onto the landlord? And if we were to find a better quote could we then take this quote up or would we have to get the landlord to ok it?

It's just that the landlord doesn't want to deal with us, will only communicate by letter and has refused to meet with us to discuss any of the issues affecting the building.

anotherlostie

Normally/ Always the buildings insurance is part of the management charge to each apartment owner, so I wonder has your landlord worked out the proportion of the charge that relates to the insurance by asking the managing agent for a breakdown of the fees. I don't see how it would be practical to have multiple policies on the one building, but then again nothing surprises me anymore with apartment complexes!

Electric

There is no management agent and I'm unsure how the landlord has arrived at the renewal figure that he sent to us. There was no breakdown of the charges which is why we would be interested in getting a couple of different quotes. Even a difference of €100 or €200 would make a lot of difference to us.

Like I've said before the landlord is extremely difficult to communicate with. If we had a better quote though, perhaps ourselves and the other tenant could convince him to go with the cheaper policy (or perhaps explain that we are only going to be paying towards the cheaper policy)

Victor

Is there a management company in place where you all have shares?

If you have your own insurance broker, get some guidance or talk to a broker.

Electric

No there's no management company or management agent in place. The landlord sends invoices twice a year for a maintenance charge - though we haven't paid it cos he won't explain where the money will go and who will decide what gets fixed.

We don't have a broker though I think I will give the Financial Regulator a call tomorrow and see if have any info.

Thanks for the replies

antoinolachtnai

What does your lease say about this? If it says you have to pay, you probably do. It's hard to understand why he doesn't roll the management charge into the rent.

How Strange

Just make sure that in all this to-ing and fro-ing that you don't let the buildings insurance policy lapse as there are huge consequences if that happens.

You can usually pay it on a quarterly basis so perhaps do that for the first quarter of the policy and then shop around for a better deal for the last 3 quarters.

Jo King

Your apartment should be registered with the PRTB. If you have a dispute with your landlord you should refer it to the PRTB. Insurance compnaies may be prepared to quote you for insurance in respect of your interests in the block, if you are holding under a long lease. The landlord is however obliged to insure the building, under the Residential Tenancies Act, 2004 in any event.

Electric

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

What does your lease say about this? If it says you have to pay, you probably do. It's hard to understand why he doesn't roll the management charge into the rent.

There is no rent we own the apartment. The lease says we have to pay a portion of the buildings insurance and we have no problem with this, we are just looking for value for money which is why we would like to shop around

antoinolachtnai

Who is the landlord? Is it the builder?

What benefit does the landlord get from being the landlord if he doesn't get to collect rent?

Do you own a share of the freehold?

I would say that in principle, you have a right to make sure that the insurance is a reasonable price, but in practice, it could be very difficult to put this into effect.

I would say you will be able to get a quote, but you might have to get a survey done to value the building, and you would need to know what the claims history was.

Victor

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

What benefit does the landlord get from being the landlord if he doesn't get to collect rent?

He sold the leasehold for a big lump sum on day one.

Jo King

Electric wrote: »

There is no rent we own the apartment. The lease says we have to pay a portion of the buildings insurance and we have no problem with this, we are just looking for value for money which is why we would like to shop around

It is most unusual for "owned apartments" not to have some rent set. I have seen leases where the rent is 50p per annum. There cannot be a lease without some rent or consideration in lieu and clearly you have a lease. "Owned apartments" typically have a lengthy term such as 999 years and an extremely low rent. You should check your lease again.