A leaseholder asks for the buildings insurance summary: the 21-day deadline and six requests worked

A leaseholder emails the managing agent: "Please send me a summary of the buildings insurance for my block." Is there a deadline, and who has to answer?

What the source says

I read section 30A and the insurance Schedule to the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 on legislation.gov.uk today. The page is the latest revised version and notes changes not yet applied to the text. In plain terms:

• Who can ask. A tenant whose service charge includes the cost of insurance. The secretary of a recognised tenants' association can ask for the tenant, with the tenant's consent (paragraph 2).
• The summary. On a written request the landlord must, within 21 days, supply a written summary of the insurance: the sum or sums insured, the name of the insurer, and the risks covered. Supplying a copy of every relevant policy also satisfies the duty (paragraph 2).
• Inspection. A tenant can also ask for reasonable facilities to inspect the policy and related documents, such as premium receipts, and to take copies or extracts, or to be sent copies. This too has a 21-day limit. Inspection is free of charge, though the landlord may count its cost as a management cost. A reasonable charge may be made for other ways of complying (paragraph 3).
• Where the insurance is held higher up. If a superior landlord holds the insurance, the immediate landlord must ask for the information, the superior landlord must reply within a reasonable time, and the immediate landlord then answers within the 21 days or a further reasonable time (paragraph 4).
• Change of landlord and assignment. Paragraphs 4A and 5 deal with a landlord selling on and a tenant assigning the lease. A person need not answer more than a reasonable number of requests from one person.
• An offence. Failing without reasonable excuse to perform a duty under paragraphs 2 to 4A is a summary offence, with a fine up to level 4 on the standard scale (paragraph 6). I did not look up the pound figure for level 4.
• A six-month rule for claims. Where the service charge includes insurance, a tenant who thinks damage may be claimable can notify the insurer in writing within the policy's notice period. If that period is shorter than six months, it is treated as six months for claims about that damage (paragraph 7).
• Challenging the insurer. Where the lease requires insurance with a landlord-chosen or approved insurer, either side can apply to the county court or the tribunal on whether the cover is unsatisfactory or the premiums excessive (paragraph 8).

Six requests in a busy month

An invented managing agent receives one written request a week for six weeks, each on a Monday. I added 21 days to each date.

Check: 21 days is exactly three weeks, so each reply date is a Monday three weeks after receipt, and each row is 7 days after the one above (2 + 21 = 23 November; 30 November + 21 days = 21 December, as November has 30 days).

Now suppose the agent answers one request a fortnight, starting on 23 November. Request 1 is answered on 23 November, on time but on the last day. Request 2, due 30 November, is answered on 7 December: 7 days late. Request 3, due 7 December, is answered on 21 December: 14 days late. A fortnightly rhythm against a weekly inflow loses 7 days with every request. The fix is a single shared log with the date received and the reply date side by side, so the deadline is a date on a screen and not a memory.

Second calculation, the six-month rule. A policy says claims must be notified within 3 months. A tenant notifies the insurer in writing on 1 March 2027 about damage that may be claimable. Three months from that date is 1 June 2027; the six-month treatment gives 1 September 2027. Between those dates: 30 days in June, 31 in July and 31 in August, so 92 days. This is my example using calendar months, and I did not read how the Schedule counts the period.

What to do about it

• Log every request on the day it arrives, with its latest reply date. Aim to reply well before the last day. I did not read how the 21 days are counted, so leave a margin.
• Reply with the insurer, the sums insured and the risks covered, or send the policy. Say how the tenant can inspect the documents.
• Keep the insurance documents in one place so a summary takes minutes. See buildings insurance commission disclosure for what leaseholders may also ask about.
• Other requests have their own clocks: see the section 22 request to inspect invoices and the section 21 summary of costs request.

What I did not read

I did not read how the 21 days are counted, the level 4 fine amount, any case law, the pending changes noted on the page, or any lease. The agent, the requests and the dates are invented, and so is the example policy.

Overlyft builds AI staff who join your block management team and log each leaseholder request on arrival, work out its reply date and draft the summary from your policy documents. A property manager checks and approves every reply before it goes.

This is general information, not legal advice. Check the legislation and take advice on a particular request or lease.