Our supermarket client occupies a large distribution centre under a single lease beginning in 1996.

The insurance premium increased to £359,000 following a 38% uplift in the Buildings Declared Value.

Our insurance team requested a copy of the Reinstatement Cost Assessment for further investigation and discovered that the declared value included tenants fittings. The tenant usually insures their own fittings, although this is dependent on the lease wording.  Some leases allow for the Landlord to insure them after the tenant has advised on their value. The lease wording for the subject property in relation to the fittings was complicated. Despite some of these difficulties, we were able to provide clear evidence that our client had their own cover in place.

During the dispute, the property was sold and the new owner issued a demand for their insurance, showing a further 22% increase to the originally disputed demand. Eventually, after some protracted discussions and exchanges, it was agreed that the Declared Value should be re-assessed excluding the costs associated with the tenants fittings and a revised insurance invoice was issued, reducing the premium to £229,000 resulting in a saving of £130,000 to our client.

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