House hold, contents insurance and structral insurance?

readyto_2

I recently purchased a flat and along with my mortgage I took out building and contents insurance. A couple of weeks later I received a bill from a separate insurance company (one I'd never heard of/contacted) for structural insurance on the property (that was divided by the other two tenants of the building according to floor space).

I spoke to the owner of the bottom property (a restaurant) and was told the owner of the freehold for the property, his father, took out structural insurance against the whole building.

Do I need to amend my original insurance at all or is it standard to have both? The building is over 100 years old if that makes any difference.

dacouch

Do you live iun England or Wales?

kingstreet

If you are a leaseholder in England & Wales, the property is normally insured by the freeholder and you pay for it via service charges each month/year.

Who told you you needed to insure the property separately?

readyto_2

The mortgage broker signed me up for it and told me that Halifax had to have some basic building insurance to cover the property in order to get a mortgage.

I live in England

kingstreet

The mortgage broker should have established from your solicitor if the property was covered under a block buildings insurance policy.

If it is, your solicitor would have established with Halifax that was acceptable.

The broker should only have arranged buildings insurance if there was no block policy in place.

You need to establish if this cover was necessary and cancel it if it isn't. Speak to solicitor and/or freeholder.