Home insurance and the building's policy: who covers which claim

Every domestic incident comes with a call to the chair asking the same question. Print this out.

The rule for splitting it

• The community policy: common elements and the community's public liability (structure, facade, roof, main pipework, common areas).
• Each flat's home policy: the private part — the building fabric from the front door inwards (depending on the policy) and always the contents (furniture, appliances, belongings).

Worked examples

• *The main soil pipe bursts and stains your living room*: repairing the pipe is the community's; the damage to your living room goes on the community's liability cover (or your home policy under the inter-insurer agreement — you will not notice the internal plumbing of it).
• *Your washing machine floods the flat below*: your home policy (family liability) covers the neighbour.
• *A roof leak over the top-floor bedroom*: common origin → the community (repair and damage).
• *You are burgled in the storage room*: the contents are on your home policy (subject to your policy's storage-room limit, usually low); the forced common door is the community's.

The double-claim protocol

Where the origin is doubtful: file with BOTH insurers on day one. The agreements between companies sort out attribution between themselves — what delays everything is the month lost arguing over who calls whom.

For the community

Keep within everyone's reach: the insurer and the community policy number, and the claims phone line. Published and accessible: half the calls to the chair disappear.