Reviewed by Matthew Bartlett, Director · Last reviewed 9 July 2026
Property companies — freeholders, resident-management companies, right-to-manage companies, developers and property investment vehicles — have seen a step-change in director-level exposure since the Building Safety Act 2022. This entry sets out how the Act reaches from the operating company through to its directors, how D&O responds to freeholder and leaseholder disputes, and the wording features that matter where a company sits between contractor claims on one side and enfranchisement disputes on the other.
The Companies Act 2006 general duties apply to every property company director. On top of that, the Building Safety Act 2022 has widened personal exposure for directors of companies responsible for the safety of higher-risk buildings. Section 135 of the 2022 Act extended the limitation periods for defective premises claims under the Defective Premises Act 1972, opening a longer window in which a director’s decisions on procurement, specification, remediation or disclosure can be tested by leaseholders, tenants and successor freeholders.
Freeholder-leaseholder disputes routinely name individual directors alongside the corporate landlord where allegations turn on personal conduct, misrepresentation, or breach of statutory duty. Right-to-manage disputes under the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002, service-charge challenges under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 (as amended by the Building Safety Act), and enfranchisement claims under the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 and the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 all carry the potential for personal claims when a director’s decisions or communications become central to the dispute.
Side A covers the individual director when the property company cannot or will not indemnify. Side B reimburses the company for costs of indemnifying its directors. Side C responds to securities claims for listed property companies and REITs. Extensions worth attention include pre-claim investigation costs (First-tier Tribunal Property Chamber referrals, HSE investigations following building-safety incidents), employment practices liability, and outside directorship cover for group structures.
Deliberate dishonesty, fraud and improper personal profit are excluded once established by final adjudication. Prior known circumstances — anything the board knew about a building defect, a leaseholder complaint or a regulatory approach before inception — are excluded. Bodily injury and property damage sit on other policies (public liability, engineering, contract works). Fines and penalties that are not insurable as a matter of English public policy fall outside. Claims by one insured against another are excluded save for standard carve-outs.
Building Safety Act 2022 — section 135 extends limitation for Defective Premises Act 1972 claims; section 130 creates the accountable person regime; Part 4 imposes duties on those responsible for higher-risk buildings. Defective Premises Act 1972 — section 1 duty in respect of dwellings. Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 sections 18-30B (service charges) as amended. Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 (right to manage). Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 (collective enfranchisement). Companies Act 2006 sections 171-177. Insolvency Act 1986 sections 213-214 where a property company fails. Insurance Act 2015 sections 3, 7 and 8 for fair presentation.
D&O covers the director’s decisions in running the property company — procurement of contractors, remediation strategy, communications with leaseholders, disclosures at share sale. Professional indemnity covers advice-based services delivered to third parties by the company, or by professionals employed by it. A landlord holding company usually needs D&O first; a property management company delivering managing-agent services to third-party landlords needs both. A specialist broker aligns the wordings and notification triggers across both.
A freeholder company owns a residential block that falls within the higher-risk-building regime under Part 4 of the Building Safety Act 2022. A leaseholder group brings a First-tier Tribunal application challenging a service-charge demand for interim safety measures and separately alleges that the freeholder’s two directors misrepresented the pace of remediation in a January 2026 leaseholder letter. Personal defence of the directors runs alongside the corporate defence of the service-charge application. Side A responds where the freeholder’s articles are silent on indemnity, Side B reimburses the company where indemnity is provided, and pre-claim investigation costs pick up counsel’s advice on the accountable-person duties under section 130 of the BSA 2022.
D&O policies for UK property companies are almost always claims-made. Where a leaseholder letter, a First-tier Tribunal application, an HSE approach or a Building Safety Regulator enquiry crosses the board’s desk during a policy year, that circumstance needs to reach the broker before the year ends. A late notification — even by a matter of weeks — is the single most common reason a real D&O claim ends up o