Managing costs
An investor buying land will often be considering its development potential, however, onerous covenants, third party rights or inadequate rights of access may give rise to the need for insurance. The investor will have to decide whether to commit to paying an insurance premium prior to planning permission being granted and risk the local planning authority rejecting the application, or, wait until planning permission has been granted and risk the insurance no longer being available because material objections were raised during the neighbour consultation phase.
At First Title we have recognised this potential problem and as a result have devised a special Developer's Policy to enable the client to manage their costs while at the same time maintaining an adequate amount of insurance cover. By paying a percentage of the premium prior to planning permission being applied for the investor has secured the policy during the life of the planning application. If planning permission is not granted, or the investor decides they no longer need the insurance following the grant of planning permission, there is no obligation for them to pay the balance of the premium.