Do I need buildings insurance on my property before I sell?

TolsBols

I've had a mortgage on my flat for almost 11 years. For the whole time, I have never taken out buildings insurance.

It is a first-floor leasehold flat which is maintained by a Property Management firm, so I don't know whether they would already have buildings insurance against the flat? I'm not sure how my lender would have agreed to the mortgage otherwise.

I am now in the process of selling my flat and a buyer is in place. However, for the sale to go through, do I need to have my own buildings insurance in place, or is it safe to assume the Property Management firm already has this covered?

Grateful if someone could help me clarify. Many thanks!

bris

No, you are uninsured and always have been. Property management firms look after wear and tear they do not cover you if your house burnt down. Your mortgage would also be called in if they knew you were uninsured.


As for selling it without insurance then that shouldn't be an issue as the buyers should insure it at exchange. You will need to clarify this though so speak to your solicitor on who insures it at exchange.

HouseBuyer77

No, you are uninsured and always have been. Property management firms look after wear and tear they do not cover you if your house burnt down. Your mortgage would also be called in if they knew you were uninsured.

Whilst some leases do indeed call for the leasee to obtain their own building's insurance (mine does) in many cases part of the service charge you are paying goes towards buildings' insurance and it is the freeholder that organises a whole block policy.

I'm sure OP would have been told by their solicitor to obtain their own insurance if the freeholder didn't insure so I'm sure they have insurance.

OP - Worth going through your old paperwork to ascertain it is the freeholder that insures. Assuming it is you don't need to get your own policy just for selling. The whole block policy from the freeholder continues to work just fine.

marksoton

bris wrote: »

No, you are uninsured and always have been. Property management firms look after wear and tear they do not cover you if your house burnt down. Your mortgage would also be called in if they knew you were uninsured.


As for selling it without insurance then that shouldn't be an issue as the buyers should insure it at exchange. You will need to clarify this though so speak to your solicitor on who insures it at exchange.

Rubbish. Most leasehold flats forbid you from arranging your own buildings insurance.

tomtontom

You've been paying a service charge for 11 years, have you never checked what you're paying for?

As per the latter two responses, buildings insurance would normally be part of the service charge.

HappyMJ

marksoton wrote: »

Rubbish. Most leasehold flats forbid you from arranging your own buildings insurance.

I think the appropriate word is "most". As far as the poster was concerned is their experience they had to arrange their own insurance on the "some" that aren't arranged by the freeholder.

I would say it's rare though.

marksoton

HappyMJ wrote: »

I think the appropriate word is "most". As far as the poster was concerned is their experience they had to arrange their own insurance on the "some" that aren't arranged by the freeholder.

I would say it's rare though.

Agreed. But then i wouldn't agree to insure someone else's asset if i were purchasing a property.

G_M

Most likely either the freeholder or management company insures the whole building, and you pay for this via your annual fees.

But not always.

Find out!

You can

1) read your own lease - it should tell you who is responsible for insurance

2) write to the management company and ask

3) read the annual accounts for the management company and see if they spent money last year on 'insurance'