An insurance claim is a formal request by a policyholder to an insurance company for coverage or compensation for a covered loss or policy event. The insurance company validates the claim and once approved, issues payment to the insured or an approved interested party on behalf of the insured.
We have a dedicated claims team at Gallaghers who handle all the claims and you can contact them to make a claim on the following numbers:
Normal working hours 9am-5pm - 01243 793 729 or 01243 793 769
Out of hours - 0845 300 2055
Please be advised that Reinstatement Cost Assessments (RCA) are vital to ensure that adequate insurance cover is in place. They are required to determine the Declared Value (DV) which is the cost of rebuilding the property in the event of a total loss. Insurers generally recommend that these surveys are carried out every three to five years to ensure the property remains properly insured, and we tend to ask that these are carried out every 4 years.
In regard to newly built properties, in our experience we find that Developers tend to under insure these properties as it is cheaper to rebuild so reinstatement cost assessments are recommended to confirm the declared value is correct on these properties and are vital in ensuring the relevant cover is provided.
Please note that the ultimate responsibility to make sure the properties are insured in a sum equal to the full rebuilding cost lies with the party responsible for keeping the property insured as per the terms of the lease and as such they would be responsible for any under insurance.
We would strongly suggest a reinstatement cost assessment is carried out as soon as possible to make sure the properties are insured correctly.
We use a panel of independent surveyors who will carry out these assessments and provide their recommendations on what the declared value should be set at.
Terrorism insurance is a mandatory requirement of the freeholder/head lessor/management company and is a normal insurance that is put in place to cover your property.
The ever increasing investor and buy-to-let market has proven that there is nothing to stop a dedicated group discreetly renting property in various parts of the United Kingdom, going about their daily routines, with the sole intention of manufacturing a device that will eventually be used to cause material and human carnage.
Our client’s considers it prudent to insure for this risk as if the property were to be destroyed by an act of terrorism and cover was not in place, the homeowners would be liable to pay for the rebuild costs.
In our experience the First-tier Tribunal agree that this risk should be covered. Furthermore, this matter has been considered by the Lands Tribunal, who found the provision of terrorism insurance to be allowable and reasonable. This decision is binding on future First-tier Tribunals.
In addition, The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors Management Code recommends that strong consideration is taken regarding placing terrorism cover.
Locations will be rated differently according to where they are situated, and these are shown by the various zones below:
The policy covers Property Owners Liability & provides protection in respect of claims from third parties if they suffer personal injury or property damage and insures the cost of damages awarded to third parties who are killed or injured at the insured property and the cost of appropriate legal defence at court and any subsequent appeal. In an increasingly litigious environment, legal costs can be very significant. Some factors which should be considered, when determining the sum to insure including:
The highest award in the UK to an individual is c£24m when long term care is included, which does not include the costs of defending such a claim.
Under your policy, we have been able to increase the declared value for these possible liabilities to £25m. We were able to negotiate this without any increase in cost.
This section of the policy is intended to protect the value of the declared value against the cumulative effects of inflation over the time that it takes to restore/rebuild the property after damage.
It is very difficult to accurately assess the time that it will take to rebuild a property after it has been damaged, and thus assess the amount of inflation that may occur. Factors that should be considered include:
Under your insurance policy an inflation uplift of 50% has been elected. This is in line with advice from insurance professionals and is intended to provide protection against all these contingencies. Please note that the premium is not charged upon the day one adjusted value - but upon the starting sum – or declared value. As such the inflation protection is essentially free of charge so there is no downside to choosing an uplift that provides appropriate protection.
This section of the policy provides insurance against the costs of providing alternative accommodation to residents, or loss of rent for landlords, if your home is not suitable for habitation after it has been damaged. The declared value needs to be high enough to cover accommodation costs over the likely reinstatement period, which as discussed above, could be a prolonged period and could be in respect of all occupants if a serious incident, so must be adequate.
It is often difficult to find enough good quality accommodation in the right location after a large residential building has been damaged. This drives up costs and minimum rental periods significantly.
As with the 'day one' provision, premiums are charged upon the declared value and not the uplifted sum including alternative accommodation, so there is no penalty cost for selecting the appropriate amount of Insurance coverage. Effectively the premium would be the same if a limit of 10%, 20% or any other value was to be substituted for the existing 45%.
The services that we provide vary from property to property, and from year to year based upon the specific circumstances at the time. Individual locations have individual needs, but our work typically includes:
Please note that you can contact our insurance team to obtain insurance documentation.
You can email the team on insurance@e-m.uk.com and provide your account number and property address and one of the team will be able to provide you with any requested documentation.
We may need to liaise with the relevant broker to obtain the up to date insurance documentation but that should not cause too much of a delay and usually can provide the information the same day or the day after.
Please be advised that we are committed to sourcing competitive premiums on behalf of our homeowners and would be happy for you to obtain alternative quotations on a ‘like for like’ basis as the current policy.
The levels of cover that we would require the quote is obtained on includes:
Once you have done this then you can send us the quote along with the policy wording and we will refer it to the insurers for them to review.
Remuneration is a standard feature of all insurance policies and is typically paid in relation to services that are provided by brokers, freeholders, property managers and other involved parties.
In respect of each accounting year, a remuneration is paid to the relevant broker as remuneration for the services rendered by it. The remunerations are properly payable and reasonably charged as part of the insurance premium.
The remunerations are inclusive and not additional to the premiums charged by the insurer.
If it were the case that the services and administration functions outsourced by the insurers were undertaken in-house by the insurers themselves, they would have to make allowance within the premiums for the costs of such services and functions and would retain the remuneration themselves.
The Landlord is often responsible for the insurance of a building so that it can be rebuilt if it is completely destroyed. The exact requirements will be contained within the lease or transfer document relating to a property. Buildings insurance is different to household contents insurance. It is the responsibility of homeowners to obtain their own household contents insurance.
We work with a panel of insurance brokers to ensure our insurance offerings are fit for purpose, responsive and reasonably priced.
It is important that insurance invoices are paid promptly so that blocks remain insured and all homeowners are covered.
If you have any queries relating to your insurance arrangements, you can contact our specialist Insurance Team who will be able to assist you with any enquiries you may have including making a claim.
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