Insurance for outbuilding (garage) outside of property boundaries

user1977

Either your garage is leasehold, or perhaps (though I think this is less likely) you own the freehold to the building - but in that case you would (or ought to) be aware of the lease(s) for the other occupiers of the building. If you can't find your paperwork it's easy enough to download your title from the Land Registry (£3 - beware the scam sites which pretend to be the gov.uk one).

CrypticHorizon

I am in the same situation as you and I am really struggling to find insurance.

My garage is on the deeds of my house (in a garage block) but physically separate to the main building. It is freehold, i.e. I own the land that it stands on as well as the garage itself - but it is outside of the main property boundaries.

I have found some places that look like they will cover the physical structure of the garage but not the contents.

I had high hopes with Homeprotect who have a web page about this (search "homeprotect garage insurance")

On that page there is a FAQ for the question "MY GARAGE IS NOT WITHIN THE BOUNDARY OF MY HOME. IS IT COVERED?" and the answer is "Garages and lock-ups that are situated in a separate block outside the boundary of your property are not covered as standard by HomeProtect buildings or contents insurance policies, but we can usually add them in if you call us.". However when I actually spoke to them they said they couldn't do this. I pointed them at their own web page which sent them into confusion. After checking they still said no. I further pressed them on it, and they sent it off to the underwriter for a decision. The underwriter also said no. So, even though they say they can normally add it, in practice they can't.

I have so far called four different insurers and the answer has been the same from all of them, i.e. we don't cover this.

It seems very strange to me since I don't think having a garage in a separate block is a particularly unusual situation. But as far as I have so far been able to discover, no insurer will cover the contents of your garage in this case. Buildings cover may be possible.

JasonMitch

CrypticHorizon said:

I am in the same situation as you and I am really struggling to find insurance.

My garage is on the deeds of my house (in a garage block) but physically separate to the main building. It is freehold, i.e. I own the land that it stands on as well as the garage itself - but it is outside of the main property boundaries.

I have found some places that look like they will cover the physical structure of the garage but not the contents.

I had high hopes with Homeprotect who have a web page about this (search "homeprotect garage insurance")

On that page there is a FAQ for the question "MY GARAGE IS NOT WITHIN THE BOUNDARY OF MY HOME. IS IT COVERED?" and the answer is "Garages and lock-ups that are situated in a separate block outside the boundary of your property are not covered as standard by HomeProtect buildings or contents insurance policies, but we can usually add them in if you call us.". However when I actually spoke to them they said they couldn't do this. I pointed them at their own web page which sent them into confusion. After checking they still said no. I further pressed them on it, and they sent it off to the underwriter for a decision. The underwriter also said no. So, even though they say they can normally add it, in practice they can't.

I have so far called four different insurers and the answer has been the same from all of them, i.e. we don't cover this.

It seems very strange to me since I don't think having a garage in a separate block is a particularly unusual situation. But as far as I have so far been able to discover, no insurer will cover the contents of your garage in this case. Buildings cover may be possible.

Yes it looks like after reading the comments from the thread and the research I've done also, that we're basically stuck. It's absolutely ridiculous but not at all surprising. One of the comments suggests 'Lock-Up Garage Insurance', I have enquired about quotes but no reply just yet so will chase it up. I know it doesn't include contents but by the sounds of things it's the best you're gonna get. Insurance companies are a bunch of thiefs!

huckster

It might be worth calling Direct Line and also NFU mutual.

eddddy

JasonMitch said:

Yes it looks like after reading the comments from the thread and the research I've done also, that we're basically stuck. It's absolutely ridiculous but not at all surprising. One of the comments suggests 'Lock-Up Garage Insurance', I have enquired about quotes but no reply just yet so will chase it up. I know it doesn't include contents but by the sounds of things it's the best you're gonna get. Insurance companies are a bunch of thiefs!

Before looking at 'Lock-Up Garage Insurance' or any other insurance, you should look at your deeds to find out your tenure of the garage (e.g. is it leasehold?) and see what they say about insuring responsibilities.


In England, there are lots of 'coach houses with other peoples garages underneath' and there is no significant problem with insurance.

So I suspect that either...

• You have made some incorrect assumptions (because you haven't read your deeds), and therefore you are saying confusing things to the insurance companies. Or

• You have a very weird 'coach house / garage set-up' which is different from almost every other 'coach house / garage set-up' in England

Edit to add...

And if the 'coach house / garage set-up'  really is that weird - I would have expected your solicitor to have flagged it up when you bought.

eddddy

Based on the estate agent's listing for the coach house, it looks like the setup is similar to this (The front door is located in a different place - but that's not relevant)...





And you 'own' (or have the use of) Garage 2.

Almost always with this type of arrangement...

• Garage 1 (green square) will be leasehold
• Garage 2 (blue square) will be leasehold

• And the estate agents listing and land registry confirm that the flat plus garage 3 (red shape) is leasehold

Therefore, there will be a freeholder who owns the entire building (yellow square). And the freeholder is generally responsible for insuring the whole building. The 3 leases mentioned above should each confirm this.

(It's possible/likely that the freeholder owns multiple coach houses and/or other areas on the development. They might all come under one freehold title. And they might have just one buildings insurance policy to cover multiple coach houses.)



If your setup is different, it would be very unusual - and if you can explain your unusual setup, it might be easier to suggest possible insurance solutions.