Insurance

As your landlord and the freeholder of the building, we are responsible for insuring the building against damage.

You don't need to take out building insurance yourself as this is covered by your service change. We do, however, encourage you to take out home contents insurance.

What is covered by building insurance?

Damage to the structure of the building caused by things like fires, floods or subsidence. This includes:

  • internal ceilings
  • walls
  • permanent fixtures and fittings including baths, toilet cisterns and fitted mirrors, together with (normally) laminate flooring.

If you're a leaseholder or shared owner, you'll be covered by One Housing’s buildings insurance policy. You can download our buildings policy summary of cover here.

How to claim

If you need to make a claim, please call our building insurance provider Protector Insurance within 30 days of the loss occurring or becoming aware. They will explain the process for any subsequent make good repairs suffered as a result of an insured peril.

Freephone: 0161 274 9077

Please quote policy number 2150367

Alternatively, you can log your claim directly on the customer portal at https://protectorinsurance.co.uk/client/

If you have a managing agent, please report your claim to the Managing Agent instead as they will normally have responsibility for buildings insurance cover.

Common questions

I'm a leaseholder and my property has been damaged following a flood/leak/fire. What do I do?

Contact Protector Insurance directly on 0161 274 9077 who will take details of the event and discuss repairs with you. Subsequent damage caused to your property will be covered, but not the cause/source of the damage. Repairs can be arranged via our insurer’s contractors who will be authorised to carry out necessary works. External walls, roofs and communal areas would normally fall to One Housing to repair.

A leak is damaging my property, but I don’t know what's causing it. As the leaseholder, what do I do?

Our property insurers can offer something called ‘trace and access’ which will cover the work involved and cost for contractors (ideally the insurer’s contractors) to locate the source of the leak using thermal imaging CCTV, UV dye, removing flooring and panels and reinstating to their previous condition, together with the use of water/damp location equipment. Please note that the cost of repairing the cause of the leak itself, however, will not be covered (such as fixing a broken pipe).

Will I have to pay a policy excess?

Yes. A £100 policy excess applies to property claims increasing to £1,000 for all subsidence claims. Trace and access does not carry a policy excess.

As a leaseholder or tenant, are my personal items, belongings and contents automatically insured for loss, fire, theft or damage?

No. All leaseholders and tenants are responsible for sourcing their own contents insurance either through a Nationally Recognised provider such as ‘MyHome', which is arranged via Thistle Tenant Risks and Ageas Insurance Limited, or by an independent insurance provider.

You can find out more about 'MyHome’ by calling 0345 450 7288 or visiting their website www.thistlemyhome.co.uk.

Buildings generally relates to: internal ceilings, walls, permanent fixtures and fittings including baths, toilet cisterns and fitted mirrors together with (normally) laminate flooring.

Contents relates to: carpets, sofas, tables, chairs, beds, bed furniture, toiletries, electrical appliances/white goods, jewellery, TVs, laptops, clothing, handbags, shoes, CD/DVDs etc.

Items such as iPads and iPhones can often be insured under a home contents policy and additionally covered for when they are away from the home.

Bikes: here are some top tips on how to keep your bike safe.

For more information, please watch this short video clip.