Leaseholder policy support

The FCA have now introduced regulations to ensure that residential leaseholders in multi-occupancy buildings are supported when it comes to accessing and understanding the insurance policy for their building.

Whether you’re a freeholder or a leaseholder, this page will detail what is required to make sure everyone has the proper access to the correct information regarding their buildings insurance policy documents.

To assist, we have included the following Leaseholders policy information documents:

Policies traded directly with AXA

Policies traded through an Insurance Intermediary

Please see our dedicated page for policies traded through an Insurance Intermediary here.

FCA - Financial Conduct Authority

Freeholder - The person who owns a piece of land or property.

Leaseholder – A leaseholder is a person who owns the right to occupy a property for a stipulated amount of time. For these new rules, the scope is limited to residential leaseholders and not commercial leaseholders.

Multi-occupancy buildings insurance – A policy that can either a) cover multiple properties under one policy or b) provide cover for one building that has multiple leaseholders

Leasehold property - You'll have a legal agreement with the landlord called a 'lease'. This tells you how many years you'll be able to rent the property. You don’t own the property and are unlikely to be responsible for the insurance requirements.

Under the new FCA regulations you are required to share information provided in the below two documents available with your leaseholders:

• Policy schedule detailing the cost of insurance for their property
• Leaseholders' policy information summary

The policy wording will also be helpful to share with leaseholders.

If you are an AXA direct Landlord customer, then a number of these documents are available in your AXA account.

If you are a leaseholder and require this information you need to first contact your freeholder or their insurance representative. If you are experiencing difficulty with obtaining this information and believe your building is insured with AXA, we will try and help. To do that we’ll need you to provide us with the following details:

• The name of your freeholder or their representative
• Your address and postcode
• The policy number 

You can contact us by sending an email to leaseholderenquiries.insurance@axa-insurance.co.uk or call us on 0330 159 8330. 

This helpline is for queries from residential leaseholders in multi-occupancy buildings. For any other queries please contact us.

Please note: We will have to validate your details with the person responsible for arranging your insurance. We will not be able to discuss any terms, coverage, or premiums issues.

The responsibility for buildings insurance can change depending on the type of property, which means there’s no guarantee that a freeholder will buy buildings insurance.

In the majority of cases, a freeholder will get buildings insurance to protect their property and include a percentage of the cost for this policy in each of their tenants rent or service charges. Please note: this is usually defined in the lease or contract that you signed with your landlord or Freeholder.

In the past, leaseholders couldn't access any details of their policy easily. However, due to the new FCA regulations, leaseholders now have the right to access these policy documents so that they can see what their cover is and how much their landlord is paying for it.

It’s not always clear if your freeholder has buildings insurance on not. However, there are ways that you can find out whether they do with a few simple steps.

1. You can check your lease documents to see if there is a clause regarding insurance costs – this may be included in your rent costs, or as a surcharge
2. Asking your solicitor to get in touch with the freeholder on your behalf to enquire
3. If you have the freeholder’s details, you can contact then directly

If your freeholder has insurance, they are now required to share key policy and price information with you after taking out the insurance. Information freeholders should share includes:

• Specific details of the policy including the name of the insurer, the sum insured, the risks insured against and significant exclusions

• Pricing information for the property

• Remuneration information

• Placing and shopping around information if insurance is purchased through a broker

• Conflicts of interest information if insurance is purchased through a broker

As a leaseholder, you have rights when it comes to the buildings insurance that protects the building where you live or work. Your rights include the right to:

• Get information about service charges or commission in relation to your freeholders’ buildings insurance

• See your landlord’s buildings insurance policy documents

• Know the landlord’s (freeholder’s) name and address as well as the how to contact them

• Be consulted about certain maintenance and running costs

• Challenge certain charges under some circumstances

The Gov.uk website provides valuable information for leaseholders about their rights. If you’d like to learn more, please check out this article: Leasehold reforms give more rights and protections to homeowners.