An agent's obligation under a property management agreement to 'effect all appropriate insurance cover' is subject to a clause requiring prior client approval for substantial expenditure, and insurance premiums constitute expenditure 'in connection with the management of the building'. Where a client assumes responsibility for determining the scope and level of insurance and refuses to approve expenditure, the agent is relieved of its obligation. The independent doctrine of waiver, as recognised in Verwayen, can apply to a contractual right to have an agent effect insurance where the client knowingly and deliberately acts inconsistently with that right. The question whether an obligation forming part of non-severable consideration can be waived as being solely for the benefit of one party was left open.
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