Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment has he made of the adequacy of competition within the market for building insurance for residential buildings owned by (a) local authorities and (b) housing associations.

The Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) September 2022 report on insurance for multi-occupancy buildings confirmed that premiums have increased, on average, by 125% for the total population of multi-occupancy buildings from 2016-21.

The FCA review also found that the number of insurers prepared to underwrite buildings insurance for multi-occupancy buildings has fallen in recent years. The FCA highlighted that the remaining insurers may have limited competitive incentives, possibly resulting in higher prices for customers. Issues regarding competition in the insurance sector should be reported to the FCA and Competition and Markets Authority.

The Government is taking steps to ensure leaseholder insurance costs are fairer, and more transparent.

The insurance industry is working on a potential scheme to bring down the most extreme premium increases in buildings with identified fire safety issues later this summer, which the Government is monitoring closely.