© 2025 News On The Block. All rights reserved.
News on the Block is a trading name of Premier Property Media Ltd.
© 2025 News On The Block. All rights reserved.
News on the Block is a trading name of Premier Property Media Ltd.
Question
I am a member of the residents committee at Carlton House in Southsea.
We are claiming the Right to Manage on the understanding that we will be able to arrange our buildings insurance. The relevant clause in our Lease states:
‘To insure and keep insured...the building and the aggregate of two years rent thereof with the Commercial Union Insurance Company Limited or such other Company as the Lessor shall direct against the insured risks to the full re-instatement value thereof (including professional fees and site clearance) from time to time...’
We would very much appreciate your opinion.
Yours
DJ Gorham
Carlton House Residents Association
Answer
This is a very tricky area. It is common for the freeholder to have the obligation of arranging the insurance and for the flat owners to contribute towards that cost. In this case, the technical details in the extract from the lease may really a bit of a red herring. These are the terms under which the current freeholder arranges cover and should the residents association gain the right to manage, they would apparently have to arrange cover on a similar basis. The question is, does gaining the right to manage the property generally, also automatically convey the right to arrange insurance cover. I believe that technically it does not unless the properties in question are leasehold houses as opposed to flats or apartments. However, gaining the right to manage certainly implies the right to arrange insurance cover and if this were not given by the freeholder, it could be challenged at a LVT.
Steve Cox, Alan Boswell Insurance