WALTHAM FOREST: Leaseholders forced to pay 'terrorism cover' (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

WALTHAM FOREST: Leaseholders forced to pay 'terrorism cover'

9:18am Friday 8th August 2008 in

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LEASEHOLDERS across Waltham Forest are being forced to pay "terrorism cover" as part of their building insurance, it has emerged.

Many leaseholders of Warner properties in Walthamstow are having to pay the extra fee which owners Freehold Managers PLC states is a requirement on all of its properties.

One leaseholder, Jose McKay, holds the lease on a flat in Edward Road, Walthamstow.

Mr McKay has owned the lease for 15 years, but in the last couple of years he has been required to pay an extra £45 a year to cover the threat of a terrorist attack.

Under the terms of Mr McKay's lease, he is required to insure the building through a company of the freeholders' choice, in this case a company called Oval.

But he believes there is no requirement that he should have to pay terrorism cover and is now taking legal advice.

He said: "No bombs have gone off while I have been here.

"If I lived in a Government building or a commercial premises in town I could understand why there may be a danger.

"But I live in a quiet residential area and there is nor eason for terrorist insurance."

In recent years it has become standard practice for insurance companies to exclude terrorism cover, which can now be purchased seperately.

A Freeholders Managers spokesman said: "In an increasingly uncertain climate, terrorism cover is crucial, to fully protect the interests of the freeholder, leaseholder and mortgage lender.

"A terrorist's main weapon is terror. They are indiscriminate in their targets.

"To not insure against terrorism is a risk that the freeholder, leaseholder and mortgage lender cannot afford to take."

The Leasehold Reform Act 2002 gives leaseholders the right to their own choice of insurer, but that applies to houses and not flats.