LONDON, September 1, 2010 - First Title Insurance plc (First Title), a subsidiary of First Title Limited and the largest provider of insurance for real estate ownership and mortgage lending risks in the United Kingdom and Europe, is pleased to announce that it has launched an innovative new risk management policy for homebuyers, lenders and conveyancing solicitors - the Home Owners' Protection Policy (HOPP).
For homebuyers and mortgage lenders, the HOPP is a comprehensive insurance policy that protects and covers a wide range of risks they may encounter in the course of buying, mortgaging or using a residential property. This includes risks that even the most diligent solicitor cannot prevent, such as forgery, identity theft, fraud, misrepresentation by a seller, boundary disputes, and lack of planning permissions and building regulation consents for previous alterations.
For conveyancing solicitors, the HOPP provides the best possible risk management solution for clients and lenders, it offers greater protection to a client than Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII), and allows consumers to claim on a 'no fault' policy, therefore removing the need for a client to bring a negligence claim at their own expense.
The HOPP has been developed in partnership with leading insurance brokers Aon Corporation. Chris Childs, Director at Aon said, "Aon has been working with the legal sector for over 30 years and are pleased to help develop this new product with First Title. We believe that this will bring some much needed stability to the Professional Indemnity Insurance market for Solicitors in the future."
In 1995, against a backdrop of instability and huge premium spikes in the PI market, the same concept was introduced in Canada. By 2001, the base premium for a sole practitioner with a CAN$10,000 excess, early lump sum premium payment and early filing of PII application had halved and has remained stable ever since.
This is a statistic not lost on Bill Wharton, Chief Underwriting Officer at leading PI Insurer, XL Insurance, "Conveyancing claims have historically been a significant source of solicitor negligence in many countries worldwide. We are firm believers in positive and innovative risk management solutions and so we are pleased to see Aon and First Title taking this initiative."
To find out more about the HOPP and how to arrange cover, please go to www.firsttitleinsurance.eu/hopp/ or contact one of our friendly HOPP team, by calling 0870 389 9688 or email hopp@firsttitle.eu.