Building insurance

The social housing insurance market has changed significantly, with fewer insurers willing to cover buildings. This reduced competition has caused higher premiums, which are reflected in your service charge.

Before Peabody and Catalyst merged, Catalyst secured an insurance deal with exceptionally low premiums for homeowners. This arrangement ended in July 2023, and changes in the market meant we couldn’t renew at the same low rates.

• Fewer insurers, higher costs: Events like the Grenfell fire, Covid-19, Brexit, and the war in Ukraine have led to many insurers leaving the social housing market. With fewer insurers, the remaining ones are charging more.
• Reinsurance costs: Reinsurance (insurance for insurers) has increased by 50%. New regulations require insurers to reinsure large risks, which increases their costs and leads to higher premiums for homeowners.
• Building safety concerns: The Building Safety Act 2022 has made insurers more cautious, especially with tall buildings. Insurers are being more selective, which raises premium costs. Insurers are being more selective, which raises premium costs.
• Higher home valuations: We regularly check the rebuild value of our homes to ensure they are accurately valued and insured, updating them each year to account for inflation. We also retender our valuation contract every 3 to 5 years to avoid issues faced by many housing associations, where repair costs exceed property values, leading to higher insurance premiums.
• Rising costs: Recent inflation has caused labour and material costs to rise over 60%, leading to an increase in insurance claims costs. The shortage of temporary housing for those displaced by repairs has made claims even more expensive—sometimes costing more than the actual repairs needed. As a result, the insured value of your property will increase each year, with adjustments now rising from a historical rate of 3-5% to 17.5-20%.
• More claims, higher inflation: Since the pandemic, more people are working from home, leading to a rise in claims such as escape of water and an increase in fire risk. At the same time, inflation has driven up the cost of repairs (by over 60%), and the cost of temporary accommodation can sometimes be more the than cost of repairs. All of this leads to higher premiums.

This is to make sure we get the best value for money, as insuring each block or estate separately would be much more expensive due to higher claim risks and additional management costs. This approach not only keeps our insurance affordable but also reduces the risk of some buildings being uninsurable.

You can help keep future premiums lower by reducing claims. Here’s how:

• Maintain your pipework: The most frequent claims are for leaks between flats. Regularly check your pipework to prevent leaks and report any problems early. This can save on repair costs and prevent larger claims.
• Report leaks immediately: If you discover a leak in your home, turn off the mains water supply and contact an emergency plumber right away. Report leaks from communal areas or neighbouring properties to us immediately to limit damage and repair costs.
• Avoid blockages: Blocked pipes from items like wet wipes, sanitary products, oil, or fat can cause major leaks and floods. These should never be flushed down toilets or poured down sinks. Preventing blockages will help reduce water damage and related claims.

We understand that rising insurance costs are frustrating, so we’re taking the following steps to keep them as low as possible:

• Reducing claims: We’re working with our repairs team to resolve common issues like leaks quickly, preventing unnecessary claims.
• Working with others: We’re part of the G15 group of London’s largest housing associations, working together to attract more insurers and potentially lower premiums in the future.
• Reviewing insurance options: We regularly speak to insurers and brokers to secure the best deal for your buildings insurance. We also insure all our properties under a single policy to keep costs lower, rather than insuring each building separately