§ Mr. BreedTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will require insurance companies to insist on minimum standards of maintenance and repair of leased properties they insure. [107732]
§ Mr. MullinWe have no plans to do so. An insurance company could only enforce such standards by refusing to pay any claim where minimum standards had not been met. This would not help leaseholders. Where landlords are responsible for maintaining property but fail to do so properly, leaseholders should consider asking a Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to appoint a new manager for the building.
However, we are considering options for regulating managers of residential leasehold property as part of our wider leasehold reform package. Such arrangements could be used to tackle poor management standards and to ensure that leasehold property is properly maintained.