22.01.14
Flooding insurance should cover more properties – BPF
The Water Bill must undergo “urgent amendments”, an alliance of property industry leaders has urged.
The British Property Federation (BPF) and the Council of Mortgage Lenders warn that the Government’s Flood Re proposals will exclude most buildings cover for a number of different properties.
Leasehold properties, the private rented sector, SMEs, housing association homes, new-build homes constructed after January 2009, council homes, and properties in council tax band H will not be covered.
The Bill states these properties have been excluded from the building insurance as they are deemed to be ‘non-domestic’.
Ian Fletcher, director of policy at the British Property Federation, said: “Every property that is occupied is somebody’s home. Flood doesn’t discriminate between freehold and leasehold, owner-occupation and renting, and it will be small comfort for tenants who have contents cover if their home itself is left uninhabitable. If a property is at risk, regardless of its status, it needs to be able to insure itself affordably against disaster, not least because that is a condition of most mortgages.
“Universality of flood cover is something that the citizens of the UK cherish and should not be given away so easily in this deal. Increased surface water flooding means you don’t need to live next to the sea or a river to be impacted by flood these days, it can happen to most of us. Depriving leasehold property owners, including millions of owner-occupiers, access to Flood Re is frankly unbelievable.
“There are many small leasehold blocks run by leaseholders who simply won’t be able to fight their corner in the insurance market and need to have access to Flood Re. Also at a time when Government is taking so many positive steps to encourage investment in the private rented sector and promote responsibility in the sector, it seems extremely contradictory to exclude these properties from possible essential flood cover.”
The Water Bill is due to receive its second reading in the House of Lords on 27 January.
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