Structural warranties for housing associations and registered providers
Latent defects cover for the homes you build directly, commission through design and build contracts or buy from developers - arranged with providers that understand how housing associations develop and hold their homes.
- Instant response
- Insurer quotes usually within one working day of your proposal
- UK FCA Regulated Broker
- No broker fee to pay
- Rent, shared ownership and sale
Registered providers
A housing association structural warranty that fits how you develop
Housing associations and other registered providers bring new homes forward in different ways, and each one changes who arranges the warranty, whose name it is in and who ends up holding the certificates. It pays to settle that before the contract is signed.
In England, registered providers are regulated by the Regulator of Social Housing, and Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each have their own arrangements. Your grant funder and your lenders may also have views on warranty cover, so we ask about those at the start rather than assume.
Three routes
Developing directly, design and build, and acquisitions
Developing directly
Where you act as the developer, the scheme can usually be registered with you, you appoint the contractor and the provider's surveyor inspects the work as it goes up. You hold the certificates for every home from completion.
Design and build contracts
Where a contractor designs and builds the homes for you, the contract should say who arranges the warranty and who it protects. Some providers register the contractor as the builder, others the housing provider. Either way, the certificates need to end up with you.
Acquisitions and package deals
Buying completed or part-built homes from a developer? Check a warranty is in place, that it will pass to you and that every home you are buying is covered. See section 106 homes.
Funders and stewardship
Cover that sits comfortably with funders and long-term ownership
Housing associations keep homes far longer than the 12 years of warranty cover we arrange, and often borrow against them. A few things are worth checking before you commit to a provider:
- whether your grant funding agreement or loan terms say anything about warranty cover - send us the relevant wording
- that the provider is likely to be acceptable to the lenders shared owners and buyers will use, for any homes that are sold
- that certificates and policy details will reach your asset management team and stay with the property records
- how cover passes on if homes are transferred to another landlord in future - most warranties stay with the home, but the policy wording decides
What we cover
Housing association schemes we arrange warranties for
- General needs homes for social and affordable rent
- Shared ownership and other low cost home ownership
- Supported housing and homes for older people
- Apartment blocks and mixed tenure buildings
- Existing buildings converted into affordable homes
- Phased sites and programmes across several sites
Housing association warranties - common questions
Who arranges the warranty on a design and build contract?
It varies. Sometimes the contractor arranges it as part of the build, and sometimes the housing association arranges it directly so it can choose the provider. Whichever you prefer, write it into the contract and tell us who the parties are.
Do our funders require a structural warranty?
Some grant funders and private lenders set expectations about warranty cover, and they differ. We cannot tell you what yours require - check your funding agreement or loan terms, and send us any requirements so we can look for cover that meets them.
Can you arrange cover for homes we are buying from a developer?
If the homes already have a warranty, we can help you check it passes to you and covers every home. If they do not and work has started, retrospective cover may be possible from some providers, subject to evidence of the work done.
Do homes for social rent get a certificate too?
Yes. Each home usually gets its own certificate, whether it is let at social or affordable rent, sold on shared ownership or sold outright.
Tell us about your scheme or programme
Give us the site, the number of homes and how you are procuring the build, and we will come back with the providers likely to cover it.
- Takes under a minute
- Instant reply by email with your reference
- Insurer quotes usually within one working day of your completed proposal
- Schemes anywhere in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
- Free and no obligation
Already filled in a proposal form? Email it to us or send it on WhatsApp with any drawings you have and we will take it from there.
