Insurance, Safety and Security

Insurance for You and Your Property

There are three main areas of insurance that our clients will need to consider: buildings insurance, terrorism insurance, and directors and officers insurance.

A robust buildings insurance policy is essential as it protects you from incurring avoidable costs from any accidental damage that your property may experience. Leasehold property generally requires a communal building insurance policy that will typically include third party or public liability cover. It will encompass the main structures, walls, roofs, doors, pipes and services, and the contents of the communal areas. Individual leaseholders will usually be responsible for insuring the contents of their own flats or apartments. Where estates or private roads are concerned, there is usually a requirement to insure communal entrance gates, boundary walls and other external areas. We will make sure that insurance is arranged in line with the responsibilities set out in the lease or deeds of covenant, and that reinstatement costs assessments are regularly undertaken.

Although terrorism cover is not required by some older leases, we recommend that it is put in place at all our developments. As standard, building insurance policies don’t cover damage caused by any terrorist related activity (not simply an act of terrorism), we always advise our clients to put a policy in place.

A volunteer director or officer of a residents management company and someone running a large commercial business are equal in the eyes of the law. Directors and officers liability insurance is crucial in protecting you from being sued personally, and we thoroughly recommend that all our clients secure a good policy.

Our strong relationships with a number of specialist block management insurance brokers mean we can secure competitive quotes on policies. As part of our service, we are happy to obtain these on our clients’ behalf and to facilitate the payment process once a decision has been made.

We actively work to minimise insurance claims by informing residents how they can check for potential water leaks and keep their property safe. Whether it be a small case of water damage or a more serious incident, we will help identify the cause of the problem and facilitate communication between leaseholders, providing a trusted and comprehensive service in occasionally challenging times. When a claim does need to be made, we will provide the necessary information and contacts at the insurance company so the claim can be processed, and the damage rectified as swiftly as possible.

Risk Register and Assessments

As your managing agent, we have a duty to ensure that communal areas are safe and free from risk or hazard to anyone who has access to them and that we manage general risks to buildings such as fire, legionella and asbestos.

With every new client, we create a risk register containing a full inventory of risk assessments that is regularly reviewed in partnership with them. We also obtain quotes for specialist assessments for fire risk, asbestos and legionella management, as required, and arrange for them to be carried out when authority has been given. We then work closely with clients to budget for and implement risk assessment recommendations, and communicate any important safety advice to the residents of the building.

Regular Property Inspections

We carry out regular property inspections for all of our clients. These vary in frequency depending on the size and complexity of the property. The purpose of the visit is to identify potential maintenance issues and / or health and safety risks, and to check that the contractors are doing the work they are contracted to do.

We will also use the opportunity to inspect on-going issues and to take meter readings. This proactive approach means that problems such as leaking over flows can be dealt with quickly, preventing damage to the building. The information in these reports is also vital in planning maintenance and keeping clients informed.

Maintaining Safety Equipment

To ensure peace of mind for both clients and residents, it is vital that safety equipment such as smoke detectors, fire alarms, sprinklers and emergency lighting are well maintained and there is a plan for regular servicing and testing. Many systems are checked as part of our routine maintenance visits but checking of more complex systems, that require specialist maintenance, are scheduled as part of the key dates record for each development.

Monitoring Security

Many leaseholders and residents are rightly concerned about security. Security can be improved by the installation of additional lighting in car parks and entrance areas, replacement or prompt repair of communal doors if locks become inoperable or the installation of CCTV. We regularly remind residents not to leave communal doors ‘on the latch’ or to prop them open. We will also make leaseholders aware if there has been a security issue and will liaise with the police if required.

Parking, Security Gates and Bollards

It is common for residential developments to experience issues with parking. Whether it is non-residents taking up space in the car park, residents parking in each other’s spaces, or even abandoned vehicles, parking can be a bugbear.

We deal with these issues on a regular basis and we have dedicated processes for solving parking problems. Some can be solved with the provision of better signage, others require a quiet word with the person concerned, still others require the involvement of the DVLA / or police. In some areas it is necessary to implement parking enforcement via a specialist provider.

Some of the developments we manage have secure parking with entry via either a gate or bollard. We ensure that these systems are maintained, we facilitate the issuing of fobs or passes and deal with any problems that residents encounter.