Newcastle City Council (your landlord) arranges buildings insurance cover for leasehold properties under a blanket policy protecting all leasehold properties. It is a condition of your lease that we arrange buildings insurance cover. You cannot arrange your own buildings insurance.

The insurance is for the structure, up to its reinstatement value, and we will review it regularly to take into account any adjustments according to the value or condition. The insurance year runs from 1 April to 31 March. The premium is based on the cost of rebuilding your flat. This is called the reinstatement value and is different from the market value.

You are responsible for insuring the contents of your home.

Please ensure that your lender is happy with the proposed amount for re-instatement as we can increase it if necessary.

It includes an amount for the shared areas and also includes Insurance Premium Tax at 5%. All leaseholders should have a copy of the Buildings Insurance Summary. If not a copy of the summary of your insurance cover is available from the Leasehold Team.

If you let out your flat or leave it empty for more than 30 days you must let us know as this could affect your insurance cover and premium and could make your policy invalid if you were to make a claim.

If you are subletting your property there are certain things that the buildings insurance will no longer cover. This means that you will need to arrange your own insurance for the things that our policy no longer covers you for. Please contact Gallagher Bassett for more information on this (see below for contact details).

The Insurance Company

Newcastle City Council's Block Policy is with AIG Europe Ltd; policy number 45003700

How can I make a claim?

Contact Newcastle City Council Insurance Section on (0191) 2326527 or YHN's Leasehold team for a claim form.  You can also download a claim form here.

You should then send your completed form to the Claims Handler acting on behalf of AIG Europe Ltd:

Gallagher Bassett UK
Westcott House
4 Ferrymuir
South Queensferry
West Lothian
EH30 9QZ 

Please keep a copy for your records.

If you have an enquiry about an existing claim, please contact Gallagher Bassett UK on 0131 331 9000

Emergency contact number - 0870 420 1162

This is a dedicated 24 hour emergency line which you can ring for advice in emergency situations. 

More information

Our Spring 2009 edition of Leasehold News contained an article with more information about the Insurance policy - visit Leasehold News to read this.