Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, pursuant to the Answer of 25 October to Question 9653 on Insolvency: Assets, in addition to the registered freehold titles that the Bona Vacantia Division is dealing with, how many registered freehold titles are vested in the Crown following dissolution of companies via (a) striking off by the Registrar of Companies and (b) formal liquidation.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The Bona Vacantia Division (“the Division”) of the Government Legal Department acts on behalf of the Treasury Solicitor (the Crown’s Nominee for bona vacantia).

The Division is not automatically informed of the assets of a company on dissolution and the Division only becomes aware of vesting with a referral from an interested party.

The Division is currently dealing with 372 registered freehold titles which appear to have vested as bona vacantia following dissolution via striking off by the Registrar of Companies or formal liquidation (this is the figure as of 15 November 2024, compared to the figure of 380 as of 17 October 2024). As regards leasehold titles, the Division is currently dealing with 66 registered leasehold titles.

At any one time the Division will also be dealing with a number of cases where the land is either unregistered or where the nature of the interest in the land referred to the Division requires clarification. The Division is currently dealing with 76 such cases.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate the Financial Services Compensation Scheme has made of the costs (a) of high rise building remediation work taken on by the FSCS and (b) to each insurance company that originally wrote the building insurance.

Answered by Tulip Siddiq - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) provides protections to the eligible customers of failed insurers regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), subject to the conditions, limits and requirements set out in PRA rules.

In the context of high-rise building remediation work, East West Insurance Company Limited (EWIC) is the sole insurer default where FSCS has stepped in, in line with its remit. The best estimate for the costs to resolve building remediation work covered by EWIC policies is approximately £335m. However, it is too early to estimate the costs that will fall specifically to the FSCS in this case, as some costs may be met by other parties.

The FSCS does not hold information on the costs to each insurance company that originally wrote the building insurance to cover this type of risk, as insurers in the live market have not been declared in default.