Council house insurance

If you buy your council property as a leaseholder, the council will likely arrange the buildings insurance.

This will be included in your annual service charge. But you’ll still need to arrange your own contents insurance.

If you buy your home as a freeholder, or you buy the freehold later, you’ll be responsible for buying buildings and contents insurance.

Also, your mortgage provider will probably insist you have buildings insurance.

If a tradesperson working for the council damaged your property, you might be able to claim on your council’s insurance.

An example of this could be if a plumber accidentally disconnected a pipe and you had a flood. See further details on GOV.UK

If you did the same thing yourself, the council’s insurance might not cover you. But if you had accidental damage cover, you might be able to make a claim for damage to your possessions under your own contents insurance policy.

Accidental damage is standard with some home policies, and can be added as an optional extra to others.

Check your lease. You may also be able to find details of the insurance arrangements for council properties on your local authority’s website.

The council doesn’t have a legal obligation to take out buildings insurance. But they are responsible for the building and any repairs that might be required.

However, if you damage the building and there’s no buildings insurance in place, the council may hold you accountable for repair costs.

One example of this could be if you failed to address a leaking pipe which later burst and caused water damage.

For peace of mind, you could take out tenants’ liability insurance. This could cover costs relating to accidental damage to the property.

For advice on council repairs, see:

• Citizens Advice

• Shelter

• Shelter Scotland

If you’ve had issues with repairs and your landlord’s complaints procedure hasn’t resolved them, you may be able to get help from the Housing Ombudsman.