Equivalent of buildings insurance for flat/apartment?

inkymortar

Hi - first time poster on here (tho regular reader of the forums) looking for advice if possible on a household insurance challenge.

We own an apartment, new build, leasehold. Despite contacting a large number of insurers we seem to be unable to secure any insurance policy that will protect the fixtures and fittings - the sort of items that would ordinarily be covered by a Buildings insurance for a house. We don't need to cover the roof, exterior areas etc because they are already covered by the freeholder and management company.

We find ourselves in the situation that if damage occurs to permanently installed items (doors, kitchen, bathroom, walls etc) we are unable to insure ourselves against this.

It feels like there is a gaping hole in the insurance market - surely thousands of other people are in the same situation. Has anyone living in an apartment/flat managed to purchase a policy that covers fixtures and fittings?

Any advice more than welcome - thank you!

kingstreet

Why aren't they covered by the freeholder's block policy which you presumably pay for through your service charges?

They normally are.

inkymortar

Hi - thanks for the reply. The service charge covers common areas, roof, windows, exterior walls. It doesn't cover anything within an apartment. I assumed this was standard practice but this is the first apartment I've owned.

GSD4ME

When I insured my flat I found it was only very slightly more expensive to buy combined building and contents insurance than just the contents, so I went for that.

It means that some of the insurance applies twice as I am insuring the same thing as the freeholder but at least this way I know there is insurance in place and I am not leaving it to the useless management company. Also this will cover the bits of the flat inside like for example if there was a fire and the inside was only smoke damaged and not burnt I am not sure if the freeholder's insurance would cover that anyway.

inkymortar

Thanks GSD4ME - I was left with the impression by a couple of the insurance companies I contacted that it wasn't possible for me to take out Buildings insurance because the external parts of the building didn't belong to me so it's good to hear that it's actually possible.

I'm in contact with our management company to find out exactly what restrictions are in place for claiming (I know claims on window fitments aren't covered for example) and I think I might ring round some more insurers again.

If you were prepared to let me know which company has provided the insurance (here or via private message) I'd have a good starting point. Perfectly understand if you'd rather not share the details.

FlameCloud

Have you actually checked the wording of the block policy? Very few exclude internal fittings. It could be a managing agent not wanting claims on the policy to protect their claims ratio (and hence commission)

System

I can see that the block policy can't really give an open-ended commitment to cover whatever fittings you chose to install. Wouldn't they need to know that you had a very expensive fitted kitchen, marble bathroom, solid gold taps, etc?