We provide buildings insurance if we are the freeholder of a building or we are employed as the manager or managing agent for a building. 

If we provide buildings insurance for your home you will be paying for this within your monthly service charges. 

Please note that we do not provide contents insurance, so you will need to sort this. You can find information on a discounted scheme here.

We usually provide buildings insurance if:

  • You own a shared ownership home.
  • You own a flat and you pay us a service charge.
  • You rent a home from us.
  • You lease commercial property from us.

Sometimes buildings insurance is provided by someone else if we do not own the building, and there are a small number of freeholders who have a contract with us to provide insurance for their homes. If you are unsure whether we insure your home or not, get in touch and we can tell you.

The insurance we provide is only for buildings. You will need to arrange your own contents insurance to cover your personal possessions.

Where can I get a copy of the policy?

Here are summaries of cover for the buildings insurance.

The current summary of cover for leaseholders and shared ownership owners is available here.

Update for our shared owners (April 2021)

We frequently review your survey feedback and we’ve noticed a few questions about why shared owners cannot arrange their own buildings insurance.

LiveWest must provide Buildings Insurance for shared ownership properties for as long as we retain some equity in the property. This is a fundamental clause in all shared ownership leases and not something which can be opted out of. If you own a house and staircase to 100%, our obligation to insure the property ends and you can then arrange your own cover as you become the freeholder. However, please be mindful that if you own a flat and staircase to 100%, LiveWest is still obliged to insure your property. This is because LiveWest (or the relevant managing agent if applicable) remain the freeholder and must insure the building. While LiveWest insure the building, we do not insure your contents.

Contents insurance

Following the controlled detonation of a World War II bomb in Exeter which caused widespread damage, it’s come to light that some of shared ownership customers do not have contents insurance. Contents insurance is designed to help protect your possessions.

No matter how careful you are, there’s always a risk that your belongings could be broken, damaged or stolen so home contents insurance can help provide peace of mind. It’s a good idea to consider what a home contents insurance policy would need to cover, in order to help you make an informed decision. We have teamed up with Thistle Tenant Risks, and Ageas Insurance Limited who provide the My Home Contents Insurance Scheme, a specialist Tenants Contents Insurance policy.

The My Home Contents Insurance Scheme can offer you insurance for the contents of your home including cover for items such as furniture, carpets, curtains, clothes, bedding, electrical items, pictures and ornaments. Thistle have confirmed that they can also offer their home contents insurance to shared ownership customers. You can find out more here.