OREANDA-NEWS. February 01, 2011. After the New Year holidays, Ingosstrakh OJSIC received five applications from operating organizations about indemnity under civil liability insurance policies in connection with icicles and icing falling down from roofs. All of them are connected with damage to the property of third parties and they are at the stage of consideration – the insured is collecting the documents necessary to make the insurance payment.

“There would be many more such applications of operating companies insured their liability. According to our estimates, at present no more than 20 per cent of companies which manage commercial real estate insured their liability, and no more than 5 per cent of those that manage apartment houses. The rest either do not know of the possibility of such insurance or treat insurance as a waste of money,’ Tatyana Lavrova, Head of Liability Insurance Department of Ingosstrakh OJSIC comments. Let us remind you that in November 2010, a bill was passed in the first reading about introduction of changes into the RF Housing Code, in accordance with which the companies that manage apartment houses should insure their liability for doing harm to life and health of individuals, property of individuals and legal entities, and due to deficiencies of works related to maintenance and repair of apartment houses, for the sum of at least 500,000 rubles per one house. Such a deficiency is, surely, undue performance of works related to cleaning of buildings from icing and icicles. At present this insurance is done on a voluntary basis.

In the course of only 2010 Ingosstrakh OJSIC paid about 6 mln rubles as indemnity to third parties under civil liability insurance policies of operating companies. Most payments are connected with icing and icicles falling down from roofs, leaks, mechanical damage of property during cleaning and other works.

“Surely, insurance is not a panacea. Countrywide implementation of liability insurance will hardly increase the number of employees in operating organizations or create new technologies of fighting icing. First of all, insurance is an instrument for reimbursement of damage already done to life and property. But the operating companies which commit systematic infringements in their work, and through the guilt of which damage is done more often than by others, receive multiplying coefficients to the insurance rate, which makes them improve the quality of their works,” Tatyana Lavrova said.