Insurance for outbuilding (garage) outside of property boundaries

JasonMitch

Good morning,

I am having issues trying to find anyone that will insure a garage that is on the deed of the property but outside of property boundaries. There was an accident with the garage door, needs fixing/replacing but my current home insurers won't cover it. It is up for renewal so I asked if it can be added for the next 12 months but they said no and would not give me much more information. I have been searching online with no success.

How does one get insurance on a garage that is outside property boundaries? Any help on this would get greatly appreciated.

Many Thanks,

Jason

DullGreyGuy

So who's land is it built on if not yours? Or do you mean discontinuous bounds? What distance is it from the boundary of your main building's plot? Is it just separated by a public road or something else?

Looking for Home insurance that would cover the main dwelling and this building or separate cover for each? If separate, is it buildings only or also content for the garage? What sort of content limit if so?

Without knowing the details the most immediate guess would be NFU who naturally specialise in rural properties where its more common to have a property broken up by a road going through it or such however they arent so keen on insuring properties in major metropolitan areas

JasonMitch

We're in a normal housing estate, and the garage is across the street (in a cul-de-sac), like a 10 second walk from the house. Viewing distance from the house but built under a coach house. So this coach house sits ontop of 3 garages, one of which is its own. Its outside of the continuous bounds of the main property but does appear on the deeds of the property as well as the tarmac infront of the garage. So I'm just looking for normal house insurance (buildings and content) which will include the garage that is across the street. An accident has happened and would be nice for the home insurance to cover the repairs/replacements if it goes above the voluntary excess. Thanks for the response by the way!

SiliconChip

Do a search for "en-bloc garage insurance", I know it isn't actually en-bloc but it's a similar situation. You should find a few insurers who will offer cover, such as https://www.propertyinsurancecentre.co.uk/lock-up-garage-insurance/  (I have no comment on the cover that they can provide), although I see that one provider is in the process of getting out of the market now.

huckster

Many Insurers will cover the garage just outside the boundary, if the garage is registered to your address. However, this is not an automatic feature of most policies and you would need to speak to the Insurers, so they can note the cover for the garage, plus advise of any requirements such as type of lock, limit on the contents cover.

eddddy

JasonMitch said:

There was an accident with the garage door, needs fixing/replacing but my current home insurers won't cover it.
....

So this coach house sits ontop of 3 garages, one of which is its own. Its outside of the continuous bounds of the main property but does appear on the deeds of the property as well as the tarmac infront of the garage. 

I think you might be looking in the wrong direction.

If the garage is part of a coach house building, presumably your garage is leasehold. Buildings insurance is almost certainly the responsibility of the freeholder of the coach house building.

There are usually 2 possible 'ownership models' for a coach house building...

• 1) The person living in the coach house owns the freehold of the building - so they insure the whole building including your garage

• 2) The coach house building is owned by a 3rd party freeholder (perhaps the original developer). They insure the whole building including your garage.

So you should be making your buildings insurance claim via the freeholder's buildings insurance.

If neither of the 'ownership models' suggested are correct - what is the actual set-up?

JasonMitch

This is the map that came with the deed to show the boundaries. So the main property is top left in red highlight and then just a little across (down/right) highlighted in red and blue is the garage. A coach house is sitting ontop, owned by a neighbour. Another neighbour also has a garage to the left of mine, coach house garage is to the right. Surely I'm still responsible to what happens to 'my garage' even if its part of another building?

eddddy

Just to double check - I'm assuming that your property is in England or Wales. (If it's in Scotland, it's a whole different system - which I can't comment on.)

So assuming it's in England or Wales...

• Presumably your garage is leasehold. (i.e. you own the lease of the garage)

• And somebody else owns the freehold of the building that your garage is in.

• The person (or company) that owns the freehold of the building is almost certainly responsible for insuring the building

• You should read your lease to find all the details of insuring responsibilities.

JasonMitch said:

Surely I'm still responsible to what happens to 'my garage' even if its part of another building?

All your rights and responsibilities will be documented in your lease.

eddddy

FWIW, I just looked up the property that's above your garage.

The Estate Agents call it a "Coach House" - but perhaps a more "down to earth" description is a 2 bed leasehold flat, above 3 garages.

Given that the flat is leasehold, it's hard to imagine that your garage is anything other than leasehold.

Unless, perhaps, you don't actually "own" the garage - you just have the right to use it.

Don't you have to pay an annual service charge to somebody?

user1977

JasonMitch said:

Surely I'm still responsible to what happens to 'my garage' even if its part of another building?

Not if somebody else is meant to arrange the insurance for the building. Surely your solicitor explained the maintenance and insurance responsibilities to you when you bought?

JasonMitch

Thanks for all the responses, really appreciate it! As far as I know it's all freehold, don't pay anything extra or maintenance fees. The word 'leasehold' never came up and I'm sure I would have done what was required as soon as I moved in. Plus I wouldn't want anything with a leasehold either so I probably wouldn't have purchased it. I will need to dig out the paperwork and maybe even speak to fellow neighbours who have garages next to mine.