Statute

Insurance Act 2015, section 10: breach of warranty

In short: Section 10 abolished the rule that breach of a warranty automatically discharged the insurer from all liability under the contract. In its place the effect of a breach is suspensory: the insurer has no liability for loss occurring, or attributable to something happening, after the warranty is breached and before the breach is remedied — but liability for earlier losses is unaffected, and cover resumes once the breach is remedied. Section 10 came into force on 12 August 2016.

Category: Statute · Insurance Act 2015
Also known as: IA 2015 s.10, section 10 Insurance Act 2015, breach of warranty
Related concepts: section 11, MIA 1906 s.33

The rule section 10 replaced

Before the Insurance Act 2015, breach of a warranty in an insurance contract discharged the insurer from all liability from the date of the breach. The rule operated automatically. It did not matter whether the breach was material to the loss, whether it had been put right long before the loss occurred, or whether the insurer had suffered any prejudice at all. A fire alarm left unserviced for a fortnight in March could defeat a flood claim in November. That was the position stated in the second sentence of section 33(3) of the Marine Insurance Act 1906, and applied by the courts to non-marine insurance as well.

What section 10 does

Section 10(1) abolishes any rule of law that breach of a warranty, express or implied, in a contract of insurance results in the discharge of the insurer’s liability under the contract.

Section 10(2) puts a narrower rule in its place: an insurer has no liability under a contract of insurance in respect of any loss occurring, or attributable to something happening, after a warranty in the contract has been breached but before the breach has been remedied. The effect is suspensory. Cover is switched off while the breach subsists and switches back on when it is remedied.

Section 10(4) makes the point explicit from the other direction: subsection (2) does not affect the insurer’s liability in respect of losses occurring, or attributable to something happening, before the breach of warranty, or, if the breach can be remedied, after it has been remedied.

When a breach is remedied

Section 10(5) supplies the test. In the ordinary case, a breach is remedied if the insured ceases to be in breach of the warranty. There is a special rule for time-specific warranties. Section 10(6) describes a case where the warranty requires that by an ascertainable time something is to be done or not done, a condition is to be fulfilled, or something is or is not to be the case, and that requirement is not complied with. In such a case, under section 10(5)(a), the breach is taken as remedied if the risk to which the warranty relates later becomes essentially the same as that originally contemplated by the parties.

That second limb matters because a deadline, once missed, cannot literally be un-missed. The Act asks instead whether the risk has come back to where it was meant to be.

The three exceptions

Section 10(3) disapplies the suspensory rule in three situations: where, because of a change of circumstances, the warranty ceases to be applicable to the circumstances of the contract; where compliance with the warranty is rendered unlawful by any subsequent law; and where the insurer waives the breach of warranty.

What section 10 repealed

Section 10(7) makes the consequential amendments to the Marine Insurance Act 1906: in section 33 (nature of warranty), the second sentence of subsection (3) is omitted, and section 34 (when breach of warranty excused) is omitted in its entirety. Those changes took effect on 12 August 2016. The definition of a warranty in section 33 survives intact; only the automatic discharge consequence was removed.

What section 10 does not do

Two common misreadings are worth correcting. First, section 10 did not abolish basis of contract clauses. That is section 9, which provides that a representation made by the insured in connection with a proposed non-consumer insurance contract, or a proposed variation, is not capable of being converted into a warranty by any provision of the contract or of any other contract, whether by declaring the representation to form the basis of the contract or otherwise. The two sections do different jobs and are often conflated.

Second, section 10 does not make warranties unimportant. A warranty still has to be complied with, and a loss occurring during an unremedied breach is still uninsured. What changed is the reach of the consequence, not the obligation.

Contracting out

For consumer insurance contracts, section 15 makes a term that would put the consumer in a worse position in relation to Parts 3 or 4 of no effect to that extent. For non-consumer contracts, section 16 permits a disadvantageous term, other than one relating to section 9, provided the transparency requirements in section 17 are satisfied: the insurer must take sufficient steps to draw the term to the insured’s attention before the contract is entered into, and the term must be clear and unambiguous as to its effect. Commercial policies do sometimes attempt to reinstate something closer to the old position, which is another reason to read the wording rather than assume the Act gives you its default.

Frequently asked questions

Does a breach of warranty still allow an insurer to avoid the whole policy?

No. Section 10(1) abolished the rule that breach of warranty discharges the insurer's liability under the contract. The insurer has no liability only for loss occurring, or attributable to something happening, after the breach and before it is remedied. Losses before the breach, and after it is remedied, are unaffected.

When did section 10 take effect?

The Insurance Act 2015 came into force on 12 August 2016, and the consequential repeals it made to the Marine Insurance Act 1906, including the removal of the second sentence of section 33(3) and the repeal of section 34, took effect on the same date.

Did section 10 abolish basis of contract clauses?

No, section 9 did. Section 9 provides that a representation made in connection with a proposed non-consumer insurance contract cannot be converted into a warranty by any provision of the contract, including by declaring the representation to form the basis of the contract. Section 10 deals separately with the effect of breaching a warranty.

Related entries

This entry is part of the Apex Insurance Wiki. It is insurance information about how UK cover responds to the rules described, and is not legal or regulatory advice. Rules, limits and wordings change; the position stated is as at August 2026. Check the primary source and take your own professional advice before relying on any of it.

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