Help - Flying Freehold and Insurances

gabbya

Can anyone help me with some advice please? I'll explain my issue.

I own a property which is part of a barn conversion that was developed around 28 years ago. The development comprises both private houses and communal land, the latter being owned by a management company. Part of my house (a bedroom) hangs over a passageway which is part of the communal land. We have recently found out that actually our deeds do not include the flying freehold - the house has been sold four times in the 28 years and this has never been picked up by any solicitor!

Anyhow, my issue is that we can get the transfer for the flying freehold with no issues, my sticking point comes with insurances i.e., there is no structural buildings insurance for the passageway. As it stands, it's not insured by my buildings insurance (as I don't own the land) or by the management company (they only have public liability insurance). Therefore, if something happened to the pillars supporting my bedroom, there is no specific buildings insurance in place.

Does anyone have any idea who's responsibility it is to obtain the insurance (mine or the management company)? And, if the management company's, what type of insurance do they require and how easy is it to obtain? I've done some preliminary research for the management company and most insurance companies are saying that this type of insurance doesn't exist?

Any help would be appreciated:rotfl:

Doozergirl

Your solicitor is the person that might know what to do about it.

There may be some kind of indemnity policy that can be purchased. There seems to be for most things. AFAIK you have to be a solicitor to be able to purchase it. It certainly wont be the sort of thing that a call centre rep in some GI company will know about.

Free_Conveyancing_Advice

Am I right in understanding that you are about to have the portion which overhangs the passageway transferred to you? If so then you should ensure that the transfer contains covenants by management company to maintain the passage, a right of support for your property and a right of access for you to maintain and repair your property. If the management company won't agree to this then you need "flying freehold legal indemnity insurance" - this can be obtained from Norwich Union amongst others, though I'm not sure whether they will provide a policy to a non-conveyancer. If you are instructing a conveyancer he/she will deal with all of this. If not then call Norwich Union and ask to speak to their Legal Indemnities team. If you want any further help you can e-mail at [EMAIL="help@freeconveyancingadvice.co.uk"]help@freeconveyancingadvice.co.uk[/EMAIL] (a free service).

gabbya

Hi,
Thanks for your reply.
The management company are happy to take out some kind of buildings insurance (which is I guess what you mean by rights of support), however, they cannot seem to find a policy? My solicitor is also looking for a correct building insurance policy that could sit alongside their existing public liability insurance, but he too is finding it difficult to locate a suitable policy or broker.

I assume it is insurable. It must be. Someone in the past must of had the same issue. I would have thought it be a simple buildings insurance policy and am now getting worried that we may never get the passageway insured which would obviously seriously affect my house.