New court claims alleging that Zurich signed off dangerous flats as safe without proper inspections raise questions about why the giant offloaded new home warranties onto off-shore owned East West, which collapsed & left liability with statutory safety net thetimes.co.uk/article/zurich…
The cases also shine a light on why 700,000 live in flats that passed inspections but were found to have fire risks post Grenfell thetimes.co.uk/article/zurich…
Two new claims by owners of dangerous flats in Bradford & Swansea (incl at the tallest tower in Wales) allege Zurich fraudulently signed warranty cover notes claiming that final inspections were done. Zurich denies this thetimes.co.uk/article/zurich…
Zurich settled a third fraud claim with leaseholders of a Manchester block where it signed cover notes for flats with balcony doors that opened to a drop to the ground, and building regs certificates for unbuilt flats thetimes.co.uk/article/zurich…
I found 6 other developments with Zurich warranties that have serious defects. Four of these had cover notes signed by surveyors who were either overburdened or had signed off the defective Manchester block thetimes.co.uk/article/zurich…
I've spent the last few weeks investigating this and was shocked at the stories. These Bournemouth families have been denied claims for under Zurich warranties for 7 yrs - leaving them to pay £60k repair bills, mortgages on flats they cannot live in and rent elsewhere 
They've had to live like this for years. One flat's pregnant owner gave birth early to a son with health problems after having to sleep under a hole in her collapsed ceiling. Another flat was repossessed because the owner could not keep up with mounting costs.
Court evidence shows Zurich still had 25,000 homes to inspect in 2009 when it had made most of its surveyors redundant. One surveyor is listed as responsible to inspect almost 2,500 homes
The legal claims allege “massively overburdened” surveyors evaded internal computer safety checks to issue the notes, stating that they “carried out a final inspection” on each plot
Buyers relied on this cover note to get a mortgage, and once the document had been issued would have lost their deposit if they pulled out of the purchase
Zurich says the policies are paying out for necessary repairs and denies that its insurance cover note inspections were fraudulent
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