Other building owned by my father and insured by me

A

ABBA

Registered User
Messages
3
Me and my father have been in business in Scotland for over 40 years and three years ago he retired and left all responsibility to me. We have a lease between us that says i have to insure and take full responsibility of the building.

A recent fire occurred in our neighbours premises and affected us. This has led me to look at my policy in greater detail and now it seems that i may be faced with some issues.

First issue is that my father owns the building but i insure its. loss assessors informed me that insurance may be declined because i do not own the property.

the second issue is that the company is a limited company and i am the sole owner but in the policy it has my name and not the limited company name.
 
This is an IRISH site.

However, your post is unclear.

Neighbours fire affected bounding property. It is not clear who owns this property, you or your father or a limited company.

Policy should be in the name of the owner.

Who took out the policy? Was there a broker/advisor involved? Did the insurer/broker/advisor know that you the owner was NOT the policyholder?

it's complicated and you probably need to get legal advice in your own country.
 
To insure something you must have an insurable interest in the item/goods/property.
Page one, paragraph one, line one of any insurance policy.
The policy should be in the owners name, regardless who pays for it.
 
ABBA said:
Me and my father have been in business in Scotland for over 40 years and three years ago he retired and left all responsibility to me. We have a lease between us that says i have to insure and take full responsibility of the building.

A recent fire occurred in our neighbours premises and affected us. This has led me to look at my policy in greater detail and now it seems that i may be faced with some issues.

First issue is that my father owns the building but i insure its. loss assessors informed me that insurance may be declined because i do not own the property.

the second issue is that the company is a limited company and i am the sole owner but in the policy it has my name and not the limited company name.
Click to expand...

You don't have to own a building in order to insure it. However, you must have an insurance interest. An insurance interest can arise in the event that there is a financial relationship recognised at law between the insured and the subject matter of the insurance. If you have a legally enforceable lease that outlines that you must insure the building, then I would suspect that this gives right to the insurable interest.......subject to the second point.....

On the second point, if you have signed the lease in a personal capacity, then the insurable interest arises in a personal capacity and the policy would need to be in your name, not the company name.......however, if the policy is in the name of the company and the lease is in your private name, then as you and your company are separate legal entitles, technically, there may not be an insurable interest.....however, if this is the case, then insurers may take the view that you have been paying the premium therefore they will deal with it.....occasionally, policy are set up incorrectly, but despite this, insurers sometimes honour them...If you have a broker, talk to them to clarify....if you don't, you may have to throw yourself at the mercy of your insurers.
 
Dear Claimsman

The lease is in my personal name and the insurance policy is also in my personal name.

For example the restaurant is called "the kitchen" and in the insurance policy it has my name TA/ The Kitchen. Should it have been the limited company name TA/ The Kitchen

I thought that everything would be okay because in the past the insurance company paid out twice. One was for £9,000 for carpets and the other is £6,000 for wall paper and all the time the loss Adjusters have asked me the question of who owns the property and name of company and i gave them the truthful answer.
However, because this will be a bigger claim the insurance company may look for a loophole to not pay.
 
This is still an IRISH site, and you need SCOTTISH legal advice, which is different to both IRISH and ENGLISH law.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top