MILTON FURNITURE LTD V BRIT INSURANCE LTD

[2015] EWCA Civ 671, Court of Appeal, Lady Justice Rafferty, Lord Justice Kitchin and Lady Justice Gloster, 7 July 2015

Insurance (property) - Two conditions as to maintenance of burglar alarm - Interrelationship of the two conditions - Whether assured in breach by failing to pay charges to alarm monitoring service

The assured sought to recover under a Commercial Combined Insurance Policy in respect of a fire which occurred at its premises on 9 April 2005. The dispute concerned two provisions of the policy. Protection Warranty 1 (PW1) provided: "It is a condition precedent to the liability of the Underwriters in respect of loss or damage caused by Theft and/or attempted Theft, that the Burglar Alarm shall have been put into full and proper operation whenever the premises referred to in this Schedule are left unattended and that such alarm system shall have been maintained in good order throughout the currency of this insurance under a maintenance contract with a member of NACOSS". General Condition 7 (GC7) provided: "The whole of the protections including any Burglar Alarm provided for the safety of the premises shall be in use at all times out of business hours or when the Insured's premises are left unattended and such protections shall not be withdrawn or varied to the detriment of the interests of Underwriters without their prior consent". The evidence showed that monitoring had been discontinued because the assured had stopped paying charges to the monitoring company.