Paying all the insurance - is this fair?

lb364

I've recently found a flat I'm very interested in buying but when I've phoned the agent they've told me as there's no management company the buyer is expected to pay the insurance for the entire block of flats!

Is this a normal thing to ask?

And where would that leave me in terms of ownership - would I be able to charge ground rent or something?

stealeruk

Will you own the freehold?

Doozergirl

Does the agent have a clue what they're talking about?

You need to see the lease. I've never heard of an actual arrangement where one person pays the lot. Sometimes you will share the cost between the flats on one policy, other times, the lease states that you buy your own which covers your flat - not the entire building. It's not the ideal situation - you'd rather have one block policy for simplicity and transparency but not the end of the world either.

The only way you'd end up paying for the whole block is if no-one else can be bothered insuring their own interest, in which case you wouldn't want to buy something that no-one was interested in maintaining it with you.


Is the vendor available to talk to? Agents often don't really know what they're talking about I'm afraid to say, although they like to talk with great authority; they can do more damage than good.

lb364

i don't think I would...they weren't giving away too much detail just that the flats haven't got any insurance.

Surely it would give me some kind of right over the block itself otherwise how could they legally impose me paying the insurance?

lb364

Doozergirl wrote: »

Does the agent have a clue what they're talking about?

Is the vendor available to talk to? Agents often don't really know what they're talking about I'm afraid to say, although they like to talk with great authority; they can do more damage than good.

Probably not! I haven't spoken to many decent agents since I started searching unfortunately!

She also mentioned that they had had offers from people who then withdrew when they found out about the insurance...

Hmm, best keep looking I guess.

Thanks for the advice though

Doozergirl

I'd do a bit of digging as there's a potential bargain to be had if it's something that can be rectified.

Is there a HIP for it still? When it's the sort of thing that other people aren't interested in, I get very excited!

lb364

I'll ask about a HIP and let you know!

I think there's probably a good deal in there somewhere but am a bit of a wimp lol...and am worried my knowledge of property buying (not much!) won't stretch far enough

clutton_2

go and talk to one of the other residents in the block.. they will tell you whats going on..... Lenders INSIST on insurance .. maybe the agent means there is no management company.....

System

I thought that the freeholder was responsible for buildings insurance?

clutton_2

yes the freeholder is responsible for the insurance... but for anyone buying it - their lender will want sight of the freeholders policy....

Richard_Webster

There are all kinds of possibilities and you will only really find out when your solicitor has seen the lease and asked questions about the property.

Estate agents tend easily to get confused about these details and I suppose you should say to them that that sounds unsatisfactory and therefore you want a proper explanation from the seller before you are prepared to express any real interest in the flat.

It can be quite random. I dealt with the purchase of a flat which was one of three in a "share of freehold" situation, where instead of the insurance being paid each year by one of the flat owners, who then collected a third each from the other two, they took it in turns to pay the whole buildings insurance amount so that each flat owner got to pay for it every 3 years!