Insurance and Liability
Insurance should follow real legal responsibility. Homeowners are often told that insurance arrangements, premiums, and excess charges are simply part of estate living — but that does not answer the real question. What is being insured, who is liable, and why you are being charged all still need to make legal sense.
Why this page matters
Insurance disputes can be some of the most confusing issues homeowners face. Bills may arrive with little explanation. Excess charges may be spread across multiple owners. Entire developments may be treated as one insured group even where blocks are physically or legally distinct. This page is here to help you slow that down and ask the right questions.
Insurance is about more than having a policy
The real issue is not simply whether insurance exists. It is whether the insurance arrangement reflects the actual ownership, common parts, liabilities, and legal structure of the property involved.
Liability still needs to be explained
A homeowner should not be expected to accept a charge simply because a factor says it relates to insurance. The property affected, the legal basis, the split of the cost, and the reason you are included should still be capable of clear explanation.
Title deeds, ownership, and liability
One of the strongest messages on this page should be simple: title deeds matter. Insurance and liability should not be treated as free-floating administrative issues detached from the property documents.
Why title deeds are central
- they may define what you own
- they may define what common parts you share
- they may allocate repair and maintenance burdens
- they may affect how insurance responsibility should be understood
- they may support a block-specific structure rather than a wider pooled one
Your Title Deeds Matter
Before accepting any broad statement about insurance liability, check what your own title deeds appear to say about ownership, burdens, common parts, and shared responsibility.
Liability is often tied to ownership
A major issue for homeowners is whether they are being charged in line with their real property interest and legal responsibility. If you do not own a building, roof, or shared structure — and your deeds do not clearly tie you into liability for it — that may be a serious point to question.
Insurable interest matters
In simple terms, insurance should relate to a real legal or financial interest in the property concerned. Homeowners should be cautious about broad arrangements where they appear to be funding insurance far beyond the buildings or responsibilities actually tied to their own property.
What that means in practice
- you normally insure property because you own it or share responsibility for it
- you should understand what parts of the property are said to fall within your interest
- you should question being asked to fund insurance for areas with no clear link to your ownership or liability
- where a factor says the arrangement is pooled, the legal basis for that structure should still be explained
Why homeowners should care
Insurance can sound technical, but the consequences are practical. Premiums, excesses, and claims handling can all affect your costs, your records, and even the way the property is understood by others. That is why insurance should never be treated as an area where explanation becomes optional.
What factors may do
This page should be fair as well as strong. A factor may have a legitimate role in arranging or administering insurance where that sits within the property structure and the services they are meant to provide.
A factor may properly:
- arrange building or common insurance where authorised to do so
- recover properly explained premiums where owners are legally liable
- administer claims and practical insurance processes
- explain what the policy covers and how costs are split
- provide clear information about insurance-related charges and financial arrangements
But that does not end the matter
A factor arranging insurance is not the same thing as a factor being free to define liability however it wishes. The scope of cover, the buildings included, the cost split, and the legal basis all still need to stand up to scrutiny.
What factors cannot simply assume
This is where many disputes begin. Homeowners should be cautious where a factor appears to move from “we arranged the insurance” to “therefore this charging model must be right.”
Be especially cautious where a factor appears to:
- treat an entire estate as one insured unit without clearly identifying the legal basis
- charge owners in one block for insurance relating to other distinct blocks without proper explanation
- spread excess across a much wider group than the property actually affected
- rely on words like “communal”, “estate-wide”, or “standard practice” instead of pointing to authority
- refuse to explain how the premium or excess has been apportioned
- avoid giving a straight answer about commissions, fees, or insurance-related financial benefits
Premiums, excess, and apportionment
One of the most important points for homeowners is that premiums and excess are not automatically the same issue. A policy may exist, but that still does not answer who should bear the cost and why.
Questions about the premium
- what exactly is covered under the policy?
- which buildings or blocks are included?
- why is my property part of this insurance structure?
- how was my share of the premium calculated?
Questions about the excess
- what event triggered the excess?
- which building or area was actually affected?
- why is this excess said to fall on me?
- what legal basis supports the spread of this cost?
Questions every homeowner should ask
You do not need to become an insurance expert before asking sensible questions. In many cases, careful written questions are exactly what is needed.
Warning signs that something may be wrong
Look out for:
- being asked to pay insurance for buildings you do not own
- estate-wide insurance treatment where your deeds appear more limited or block-specific
- excess spread widely even though damage affected only one block or part of a building
- unclear or changing explanations about what is covered
- no policy schedule or supporting documents being produced
- silence about commission, rebates, or insurance-related fees
- separate and distinct blocks treated as though they form one legal unit without clear authority
A practical journey: what to do next
If something about the insurance arrangement feels too broad, too vague, or too detached from your actual property, take it step by step.
1. Identify the arrangement
- is there one policy or more than one?
- is it block-specific, common, or estate-wide?
- who arranged it and what does it claim to cover?
2. Identify the legal basis
- what do the deeds say?
- what common parts are defined?
- what ownership or liability wording matters?
3. Compare the two
- does the insurance structure match the property structure?
- is the insured grouping broader than the legal grouping?
- is the charging model wider than your apparent responsibility?
4. Put questions in writing
- ask for the policy schedule
- ask for the clause relied on
- ask for premium and excess calculations
- ask for commission or fee disclosure
Title deeds may vary — and that matters
Not every development is the same. Even within one wider estate, different blocks may have different structures, different burdens, different common parts, and different legal wording. That is why homeowners should be careful about any explanation that treats every owner as though they must automatically be in the same position.
Differences that may matter
- detached and connected blocks
- different roofs and shared structures
- different access arrangements
- different building layouts or machinery
- different deed wording or burdens
Why this matters for insurance
If the buildings are not identical in structure or legal treatment, it may be unsafe to assume the insurance arrangement should automatically be identical too. A neat administrative system is not always the same thing as a correct one.
You may not be the only one affected
Insurance disputes often make more sense once homeowners compare notes. One owner may see only a single charge. Several owners together may see a pattern.
Compare what others are being told
- are different blocks being billed the same way?
- are owners being given the same explanation?
- are excess costs being spread consistently?
- does the factor’s position change depending on who asks?
Why that matters
Patterns become easier to see when homeowners share documents, invoices, and explanations. What looks like an isolated insurance issue may turn out to be a wider charging model affecting many people across a development.
Insurance should follow real responsibility
If an insurance arrangement looks wider than your ownership, your legal burden, or the part of the property actually affected, do not assume it is automatically correct. Ask what is insured, why you are included, and what authority is being relied upon.