12.1 Latent defects insurance provides cover against defects that appear in a building after it has been completed and that are not discoverable at the time of its completion. The policies operate on the basis that if such a defect appears, the policy will meet the cost of remedying it, without regard to who may have been responsible for the defect in the first place. In theory, therefore, latent defects policies provide the building owners and occupiers with a much simpler method of meeting the costs of putting defects right than enforcing the terms of building contracts, professional appointments and collateral warranties. In practice, because such policies are hedged around with exclusions and limitations, recovering the cost of repairs is not as straightforward as it might first appear.