Flat purchase being delay due to building insurance documents

Apo

Hi,

I am purchasing a ground floor flat (leasehold) and I have been waiting for the vendor to send building insurance documents to my solicitor.

I am told today that he needs to send the insurance papers for the flat above as well as the ground floor and he cant get hold of the people who own the flat above... Why would my solicitor want to see the building insurance for the the flat above? is it really required? we have been waiting for this last 3 weeks...

Thanks,

Apo

retepetsir

Buildings Insurance should be under the landlord....have you got a managing agent for the block? You'd need to go through them. Individual lessees wouldn't have their own building policy.

HouseBuyer77

The freeholder may not have their own buildings insurance and require the lessees to sort it out themselves (this is the siuation in the property I'm buying, still going through the purchase though so don't know exactly how it will all work yet). In this case you want to know if the properties around you in the same building also have buildings insurance. Say there's a fire, the whole lot could be gutted but if only you have sufficient insurance then you have a problem (as it would only cover your flat).

westv

HouseBuyer77 wrote: »

The freeholder may not have their own buildings insurance and require the lessees to sort it out themselves (this is the siuation in the property I'm buying, still going through the purchase though so don't know exactly how it will all work yet). In this case you want to know if the properties around you in the same building also have buildings insurance. Say there's a fire, the whole lot could be gutted but if only you have sufficient insurance then you have a problem (as it would only cover your flat).

Surely that could store up potentional problems? I own a true freehold flat but even with that our management company has buildings insurance for the entire structure.

G_M

westv wrote: »

Surely that could store up potentional problems? I own a true freehold flat but even with that our management company has buildings insurance for the entire structure.

Yes it can cause problems. It's not an ideal solution but nevertheless is fairly common.

The important thing is to establish that the entire building is insured.

as explained, insuring a 1st floor flat is no help when it comes to rebuilding after a fire if the ground floor cannot be rebuilt for lack of insurance.........

Richard_Webster

With blocks of flats it si genereally the case that the freehlder/landlord insures and the lessees pay a proiportioon o fthe cost, normally thorugh a service charge.

However with a classic "maisonette" situation where there are few if any shared areas, and no need for a landlord to set up a service charge, it is very common for the lessee to have insure his part of the building. This is practical on a day to day basis but is not ideal because one lessee has no control over the other's insurance.

Getting a copy of the insurance for the present period is all very well, but what happens next year? Really the buyers should protect themselves witha contingent buildings insurance policy - which would generally be a lender requirement in such cases.These are one off policies which pay out if there is damage to the buyer's flat and an insurance claim would not pay out because the other lessee is ninusred or not adequately insured. A once and for all premium for most flats would be in the range £200-£400. A buyer can try to get his seller to pay for this.

Greenone

I have the same issue with the flat I am trying to buy - it seems to be due to an old-style clause in the lease where each flat insures itself rather than the landlord insuring the whole building and recouping the cost from both flats.

I'd imagine your solicitor is asking for the insurance docs of the other flat as it is usually a requirement of the contingent buildings insurance that both flats are at the very least insured at the time the policy is taken out. No point paying for indemnity insurance that is invalid from inception.