Housing Secretary Seeks Review of Buildings Insurance Costs

Housing Secretary Michael Gove has called on the regulators to review and address rising insurance costs for flats. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) are to report within 6 months on the cost and availability of insurance.

Mr Gove stated in a letter to the regulators that: “I have been extremely concerned to hear from innumerable leaseholders about the pressure they face from rapidly escalating building insurance premiums……………. leaving leaseholders with crippling costs” adding, “building insurance premiums have increased dramatically for almost all leaseholders.”

There has been increasing concern at the lack of competition in the insurance market, with few insurers willing to offer new policies, leaving many effectively trapped with their current provider.

Mr Gove also acknowledged the widespread view among policyholders that the insurance market is not delivering reasonably priced, widely available cover.

The FCA and CMA are charged with finding routes to improve the current position, and to achieve a marketplace that “offers widely available and affordable cover for those who live in flats and multi-occupancy buildings”

E&J Estates welcomes any move which reduces the high cost of insurance faced by many homeowners. However, this is a complex and long-term problem, particularly for higher value buildings with fire safety problems, and we remain conscious that there is still a lot of hard work to do before the issue is resolved.

In the meantime, we are committed to working with all parties to share our understanding and experiences of the issues, and we will continue to do everything we can to achieve the best quotes for our leaseholders in challenging circumstances.

For further commentary on insurance, please see the FAQs section of this site, and our Case Study, “Fighting for Fair Insurance”.