intouch

We look at some of the most common questions posed to our underwriters.

Q: Does a firm have to be fully FCA authorised to arrange legal indemnity insurance with us?
A: No – as long as your firm has an Exempt Professional Firms (EPF) status, this still remains sufficient.

The majority of law firms have an EPF status registered with the FCA, which was originally agreed with the Law Society back in 2005. This status remains unchanged following the introduction of the IDD, back in October 2018. An EPF status continues to allow firms to arrange legal indemnities, as it’s ancillary to the main conveyancing work for the client. Simply put, there’s no need to change your approach; you can still deal with us directly and ensure you and your clients benefit from our quick and efficient turnaround times, to help keep transactions on track.

Q: Do you price restrictive covenant cover for older, more established breaches differently to more recent ones?
A: Yes – in fact last July, we introduced a cheaper option to cover an actual or potential breach of covenant which is at least 10 years old or more.

This was in response to feedback from customers who were looking to differentiate between established breaches of covenant, and those which are more recent.

And, earlier this year we significantly reduced our premiums for this new option, making our Restrictive Covenant cover for older breaches even more competitive. To ensure your clients automatically benefit from these cheaper premiums, please select ‘at least 10 years’ under the ‘existing property - continued use’ option for the Freehold Restrictive Covenants policy in Elite. Or if you’re contacting us by phone or email, don’t forget to tell us that it’s an older breach.